


Two Princes

by Basnatural



Series: Secrets and Lies [4]
Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Drama, Emotional Manipulation, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, Journalism, M/M, Rimming, Woody is a Saint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-11-23 10:30:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 68,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11400732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basnatural/pseuds/Basnatural
Summary: Part Three of the Secrets and Lies Series - if you haven't read the other two parts, this will most likely be confusing!All has gone quiet after the release of the photos. But is all as it seems?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!! So here is part three for you! As with the rest will update as often as I can. 
> 
> There is a time jump at the start of this chapter so you are aware. 
> 
> Please enjoy.

Chapter One

The large crowded space was bustling with people moving to and fro. No one was looking at anyone else and unless there was an outlandish scream or reaction from the waiting crowd, everyone was ignoring everyone else. Men and woman were greeting old friends and lovers, children were seeing their parents for the first time in days or weeks and family’s returning home were attempting to move through the throng of people crowding the exit to the luggage collection point to get to their own transport and way home.

 

It was evening, and Kyle had been standing with the crowd for about thirty minutes by this point. He had found himself a perfect vantage point next to a pillar and spent his time people watching, making up his own stories as to why the different groups were in the building at that very minute. He had arrived early for the meeting. He was too excited to wait any longer and so he had decided to forgo his afternoon and evening and spend time at Heathrow terminal two.

 

The past two months had been hellish for everyone. After being cancelled from all summer gigs in Germany and a few more over the continent, Dan’s lawyer had finally found enough evidence to get the papers and magazines to print a retraction of the story about Kyle sleeping with female fans. It had hit the fan base hard though. They still had a strong core, but a lot of them were firmly on Dan’s side and were angry with Kyle on his behalf no matter how many times Dan insisted nothing had happened. There wasn’t a day that went by where Kyle hadn’t been getting some sort of hate online, so his online presence had diminished a lot so he could try and cope with it.

 

The end of the summer had also meant the end of their management contract with Dave. The man hadn’t gone quietly and was clearly upset with the decision the band had all made – together – to represent themselves from here on out. After a week of threatening legal suits and lawyers, all had gone quiet after Dan’s – admittedly amazing – lawyer had told him he hadn’t got a leg to stand on.

 

Suspiciously, Margaret had also gone very quiet. After the threat that Kyle had taken on Dan’s phone, she had not made contact again. Sharon had taken what Dan had shown her father very hard – although not against the men themselves. She was utterly unconvinced that Dan and Kyle would try and oust her by showing a false photo of her mother to her father, obviously knowing what her mother was like. She hadn’t been in touch with her mum since, and only saw her dad on rare occasions. She had now fully moved in with Charlie, and despite it seeming fast, they appeared to be getting on better than ever.

 

Ella had been released from the hospital after he overdose. She had started seeing a counsellor to talk about her feelings towards her own family and was doing so much better. Dan had forgiven her for what she had done to Kyle and she had made decisions about what to do with her life. She had already left school after her GCSE’s and was starting college in a couple of days. And this is what led Kyle to the airport at this time on a Friday evening.

 

As part of her 16th birthday, Ella and Dan’s parents were always going to take Ella to Durban for the first time. After everything that had happened, and – even though they didn’t know the full ins and outs of it – the distance between the siblings, the whole family had gone out to South Africa for a three week bonding holiday as soon as the last gig had been played.

 

For Woody, Will, Charlie and Sharon this had been a welcome break from the chaos of the summer. For Kyle, it had been a long and arduous time. He had started seeing his own psychologist again to help with his burgeoning anxiety and he had tried to spend some time with old friends. Inevitably, however, he had spent most of the days sitting on the sofa, watching cartoons and eating junk food, just waiting for the day that Dan flew home.

 

He got up late that morning and had showered, trimmed his beard and then headed out for a haircut, wanting to at least look part way presentable for when his boyfriend got home. Returning home, too hyper to sit still, he had changed into his smartest dark blue jeans and cleanest, smartest t-shirt he could find. He was now standing with his black SuperDry jacket on and staring at his feet, watching his trainers kick at a hole in the tiled floor.

 

Staring up at the arrivals board for what felt like the fifteenth time in the last three minutes, he could see Dan’s flight number still saying ‘on approach’. He wasn’t due to land for another 25 minutes, but Kyle really couldn’t stop looking at the board. He feels his phone vibrating in his pocket so pulls it out to see a few messages waiting for him.

 

_Will – let me know when he’s landed mate_

_Woody – stop pacing, sit down and have coffee_

_Jools – don’t you dare stand me up tomorrow! You me and that man of yours are having dinner finally! I need to meet him_

He fires off quick replies to Woody and Will and decides to take Woody’s advice and go and grab a coffee from the Starbucks in the arrivals hall. While he’s queuing he looks again at the last message. Jools was his best friend who he still hadn’t introduced Dan to. He had kept his work friends and personal friends pretty separate until recently but with everything that had happened with him and Dan coming out, he had finally decided that he needs to at least start co-mingling the most important parts of both of them.

 

He scratches absentmindedly at his left arm as he moves forward in the queue to place his order. He decides on a large cappuccino with extra espresso and cinnamon and waits for it at the end of the counter. That was another thing that had changed and possibly was making him more antsy than he would normally be. He had decided to quit smoking and was on the nicotine patches. This had been a new thing since Dan had gone on holiday and the sticky plasters were beginning to annoy him.

 

“Kyle?” comes the call from the barista and Kyle jerks back to the present to pick up his take away cup. He looks at the side and sees his name hilariously spelled _‘Kiall’_.

 

Shaking his head, he just wanders over to a free table and sits down where he can see the arrivals board clearly. He twirls the cup round on its base to try and waste some time before taking a long drink from it, savouring the bitter sweetness he tastes.

 

“Excuse me?” a voice comes from behind him. Kyle turns round expectantly and sees a young man standing there. The guy is probably in his early twenties and he is definitely more muscled that Kyle, which wasn’t difficult. He was well groomed and wearing fashion forward hipster clothes and had a smattering of facial hair.

 

“Yup?” Kyle answers him, raising his eyebrows at the same time.

 

“You’re Kyle from Bastille aren’t you?” the guy asks him, and Kyle automatically feels his heart speed up and a sight tightening in his chest, a sure sign of panic starting. He automatically tries to put his grounding techniques to work and try and focus on his breathing. He can’t say much as he’s concentrating but just slowly nods his head indicating the kid was correct.

 

“Well done mate.” The man says to him. Kyle is shocked and looks at him directly with confusion. “Yeah, in one night you completely pissed on the entire bi community. Now everyone thinks all we want is to sleep with anything that moves. Fucking disgrace man, that’s what you are!” and the man turns and walks away before Kyle can say anything in return, not that he had anything to say.

 

This wasn’t the first time that people had come at Kyle, but it was the first time that he hadn’t had anyone with him to try and calm him down afterwards. All Kyle can think is how pissed off that guy had made him. The guy had no idea what had happened and if he hadn’t paid any attention to what else had happened afterwards he was just ignorant. He takes another sip of his coffee and as he puts his cup down onto the table again he suddenly realises that he wasn’t panicking. He was annoyed, sure, but he wasn’t hyperventilating. He wasn’t emotional and he wasn’t gripping onto things as if they were lifelines for him.

 

This was the first time since the photos had been leaked that he had felt that way when confronted with anything. He nods his head to himself and can feel a small smirk starting to form on his face.

 

He looks up at the arrivals board again and sees that the South African Airways flight had landed and their baggage was in the hall. He finishes his coffee and gets up quickly to get to the exit doors.

 

He’s pacing backwards and forwards, looking at the floor and doesn’t notice the door slide open and a group of four walk out pushing a luggage trolley filled with luggage and back packs. The dark haired man with the group looks around and spies Kyle immediately, and can see that he hasn’t noticed that he is in there. It had been a long flight for the whole family and Dan was exhausted, but seeing Kyle was like a shot of caffeine to the system and wakes him immediately. He’s got his ball cap on, wearing his normal glasses and is wearing his well-worn red and black checked jacket, but he doesn’t care what he looks like as he instantly broke free of the rest of his family and ran full pelt towards the younger man.

 

Kyle sees him as he turns around again to pace back the way he had come. As he sees the man run awkwardly towards him he can feel his face break into a massive grin and he stands still as Dan gets to him and automatically jumps into his arms. Shocked by this, Kyle quickly grabs behind his thighs to steady himself and catches his own balance so they don’t both end up toppling over. Dan’s arms are thrown around his neck and he leans forward slowly to rub their noses together in greeting.

 

“Hi,” Kyle says quietly to his lover.

 

“Hi,” Dan repeats in return, almost shyly. He was so excited to see Kyle that he had completely forgotten how public their surroundings were.

 

“Miss me?” Kyle asks cheekily. “’Cos _God_ I missed you,” he adds.

 

“Meh,” Dan replies and smiles genuinely, showing those dimples that Kyle had been dreaming about for three long weeks. “There’s hot guys in South Africa you know…” he trails off and laughs when Kyle tries to look offended.

 

Dan surges forward to take Kyle’s mouth with his own and they start kissing passionately. Dan slides his legs down from Kyle’s waist until he is standing again, but is still kissing his boyfriend with gusto. He pulls back and bites at Kyle’s lower lip before thrusting his tongue inside, swiping around teeth and the roof of his mouth before eventually pulling back with a satisfied hum.

 

Kyle reaches forward to put one final kiss on Dan’s lips before they part and stand side by side, arms wrapped around each other. They both blush brightly as Dan’s parents and sister walk up towards them chuckling softly.

 

“Well at least he’s going to be a bit happier now,” Mr Smith jokes. “He’s been sulking for the past three weeks,” and both Ella and their mother nod emphatically to agree with him.

 

Kyle quickly spies the man who had confronted him out of the corner of his eye watching them intently and pulls Dan towards him more tightly as he laughs at the family teasing.

 

“What do you say we go home then?” He says as he looks into the deep blue eyes of the singer in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The men say goodbye to the rest of the family and Kyle drags Dan’s luggage with him as the singer carries his backpack down to the station to get back into the capital. They are right on time and the train arrives at the platform as they get down there and they hop on. Finding a larger corner area in the mainly deserted car, they settle down next to each other and cuddle up together.

 

Kyle drapes his arm around Dan’s shoulders and Dan relaxes back into his chest and puts his feet up onto the spare seat next him as his partner pulls him closer. Normally he wouldn’t want to put his shoes on the seats, but the old blue fabric was so worn with time and use it didn’t bother him.

 

“Can we take your hat off?” Kyle suddenly says softly against Dan’s neck, clearly annoyed that in this position he can’t see him properly.

 

“My hair is a state Ky, do you have to?” Dan protests, but it falls on deaf ears as Kyle plucks the cap off of Dan’s head and places it on his own head back to front. Dan cranes his neck back to look at him and all he can see is Kyle’s ear sticking out from under the hat and him beaming down at him. “You look like a five-year-old with facial hair.”

 

“Brilliant!” Kyle says, genuinely excited by the observation and Dan chuckles at him and shakes his head.

 

They switch onto the tube at Paddington and then slowly walk the 5 minutes to Kyle’s flat at the other end, dragging Dan’s luggage the whole way. Making up the stairs to his front door and tugging it inside, Kyle’s patience finally gives in and he throws the bag towards coffee table in his living room, causing two different cats to jump up from their sleeping positions and flee into neighbouring rooms.

 

“What the hell is in that thing? You bring back bricks from South Africa?” he grumbles to Dan as he takes his jacket off and hangs it up.

 

“You offered to pull it!” Dan replies lightly.

 

He pulls his own jacket up and hangs it up next to Kyle’s on the rack and he looks at the site of the two pieces of clothing hanging next to each other. Turning, he walks over to Kyle and grabs his both of his hands in his own, entwining their fingers together and pulling them out to the side, and then behind him so that Kyle is eventually holding onto his waist.

 

“You know something?”

 

“If your gonna say your hair really is a mess, I’m not gonna lie this time. You’re right,” Kyle replies grumpily, still annoyed with pulling luggage halfway round London.

 

“Thanks,” Dan says, standing slightly on his tip toes and placing a small kiss on the end of Kyle’s nose, smirking when he sees the other man’s eyes cross in front of him. “What I was going to say was it’s nice seeing our stuff hanging like that,” and he points to the coats on the hooks. “Y’know, next to each other.” And he pulls forward again for another small kiss, this time on the lips.

 

“Hm,” Kyle says suspiciously as he pulls back to look at Dan in the eyes, past the glass of the horn rimmed glasses he was wearing. “What are you getting at, mister?”

 

“Well your place is bigger…and closer to the studio…and could easily fit my stuff as well as your stuff…” Dan trails off, hoping Kyle understands where he’s going with this.

 

“ _Oh I get it_!” Kyle exclaims quickly, pulling away from Dan, but still holding onto his hands. “You’re gonna move into the studio and want somewhere to store your stuff!” and he can hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice as well as see the small glint of fun in his eyes. Dan quickly slaps him on the shoulder in playful disgust, and tries to walk away. He is stopped in his tracks by the strong arms of the keyboard player and pulled back into a warm embrace. Dan tries to wrestle away, but the arms hold him in place and he feels soft breath and tickles of a beard on his neck behind his ear.

 

“Baby, are you trying to say you want to move in here?” Kyle asks quietly and the soft, deep timbre of his voice sends sparks up and down Dan’s spine.

 

“Maybe,” Dan says, suddenly shy.

 

“I think that’s an awesome idea,” Kyle responds and kisses him lightly on the sensitive area he knows is there. He licks up towards his earlobe and starts to suckle on it softly, earning a whine from the older man.

 

Dan squirms in his grip until they are face to face again and grabs Kyle’s face to crash their mouths together in a much dirtier kiss than they had had in the airport. Teeth and tongues were clashing together and piece by piece, articles of clothing were being shed as quickly as possible from both man.

 

Kyle walks Dan backwards towards the bedroom and by the time they are there they are both stripped down to boxers only and Kyle throws Dan forcefully onto the bed, causing him to grunt in appreciation.

 

“I have grown all to accustomed to my own hand over the past couple of weeks…this is gonna be so good,” he says quickly to Dan, before hooking his fingers under the waistband of Dan’s pants and pulling them swiftly off.

 

Dan’s cock springs free and slaps backwards up onto his stomach, leaving a wet trail in its wake. Kyle licks his lips as he watches it and without any preamble, ducks his head down to lick a long stripe on the underside of the hardened erection. Stopping at the tip and staring intently into Dan’s eyes, he kisses the head and then wraps his lips around it, with suction constant from the beginning.

 

“Oh…God! Ky!” Dan moans, and Kyle watches him throw his arm back over his head, squeeze his eyes tight and throw his head backwards in ecstasy.

 

Kyle knows he isn’t going to last long himself, so he wants to make this at least better for his partner. He dips his head low, taking all of Dan’s impressive length in and letting the head hit the back of his throat, and this causes more groans and whines from the man above him. He pulls off gently, going back to sucking the head and winding his tongue over the rest of the cock. He can taste the earthiness of the precome gathering and quickly leaking out of the tip and he savours the taste as much as he can. He feels the vibrations start in Dan’s legs next to him and he reaches under the bed next to him where he knows he had stashed the lube that morning waiting for this exact moment. He slicks up his fingers and pushes one in to Dan’s waiting hole gently, and immediately his finger went in right up to the knuckle. Kyle groans himself at how open and relaxed Dan clearly is just from doing this and automatically puts in a second finger to open him up further.

 

Whoever said that Kyle couldn’t multi-task had clearly never seen him when he was horny and desperate for the love of his life. Continuing suction with his mouth, and opening Dan up with his fingers, he then went to work skilfully pulling his own shorts down to free his own rock hard and begging cock. He slicks himself up with more lube and releases Dan’s dick with an obscene pop.

 

“You ready?” He gasps, and he just feels Dan nod as he gets up to line his own erection up to the waiting hole. Dan gasps as he feels the blunt tip start to breach the muscle and as Kyle slides in fully he takes a big inhale of breath until Kyle is fully seated. “Babe, I’m not gonna last long at all,” Kyle warns as Dan brings his legs up and digs his heels into the small of Kyle’s back urging him to move.

 

Kyle starts to move at the same time as grasping Dan’s still wet cock and pumps at the same time as frantically thrusting into him. He’s completely correct in his prediction and it is a mere matter of minutes before he is spilling completely and very loudly into the singer. He pumps Dan a few more times before he is also thrust over the edge into bliss and Kyle’s hand is covered in hot, sticky come.

 

“You really did miss me didn’t you?” is all that Dan manages to say before they both pass out from exhaustion on the bed.

 

\---

 

The two spend the majority of the following day in bed, enjoying each other’s company, sharing stories of what happened in their time apart and catching up of gossip. They eventually get up and have showers, when Kyle breaks the news to Dan that he had made plans for that evening.

 

“So, why have I never met this woman?” Dan asks as he changes into his jeans and a clean t-shirt after drying himself off from the shower.

 

“I just never really thought to mix you guys up,” Kyle says. “You know I never really invite people to gigs that aren’t part of the crew and she never really seemed interested until we came out. She wants to meet the person that has ‘tamed me’ apparently.” Dan laughs at that as he looks at his hair in the mirror and starts to style it with his gel.

 

“I suppose it’s about time really. I mean you guys all know Soph…” he says finishing off his hairstyle and making sure the quiff stays in the right place.

 

He looks around at Kyle who’s sitting on the edge of the bed tying the laces of his shoes behind the tongues and then pulling the cuffs of his jeans over the top of them. He stands up and moves over to the mirror next to Dan and they look at themselves appraisingly. Kyle slides his fingers over his moustache to flatten it and they give each other a nod and head out of the door.

 

\---

 

The meet Jools at a bistro on the South Bank and they have a wonderfully expensive meal together. Jools is in her early 30’s and she has long copper hair that she had styled half up for the evening. She was wearing jeans’ but a flowery tunic top over the top and wearing sandals despite the autumnal weather. She was a cheerful person, with a round face but she laughed a lot and made a lot of jokes at Kyle’s expense in a way only an old friend can do.

 

The bistro was dark, but there was atmospheric lighting all around. It had a Spanish vibe with paper lanterns adorning many nooks and crannies. Each table had a candle on it providing the lighting for that area.

 

Eventually talk turned round to the leaked photographs and aftermath. She had obviously heard Kyle’s side of the story and was wondering what they were planning on doing now.

 

“Well, to be honest I have no clue,” Dan says frankly. “I mean we got rid of our manager, and then I went on holiday, so we’re a bit in the middle of nowhere at the moment.” He looks over at Kyle, sitting next to him with his arm around the back of Dan’s chair and drinking a glass of the wine they had been sharing. Kyle lifts his hand and runs it through Dan’s hair to comfort him.

 

“So are you now manager then Dan?” Jools asks him conversationally.

 

“Well, we’ve decided to kinda all do it together, but I think I have the final say? I seriously haven’t thought a lot about it.”

 

“The way I see it,” Jools starts, “is you need a way to get your image back up again. You know, maybe charity gigs, interviews, getting your name back out there in a way that isn’t to do with anything negative.”

 

Dan looks at her with intrigue. Kyle notices and decides to intervene.

 

“Jools has a degree in marketing and public relations,” he tells Dan quickly, and Dan starts to get more and more intrigued with the woman.

 

“You want a job?” he suddenly blurts out.

 

“What?” Jools and Kyle say at almost exactly the same time, then look at each other and laugh.

 

“Seriously,” Dan says earnestly. “I need a PA. I need someone who knows shit and Kyle trusts you, which is more that we had with some of the other people we worked with this year.”

 

Jools is gobsmacked. She looks at Kyle who just shrugs at her and then back at Dan who has his wide, blue, puppy dog eyes trained on her. Kyle knows that look, and knows how incredibly hard it is to say no to.

 

There is silence for a beat while Jools clearly thinks about things.

 

“Errm…alright! Yes! I’ll work for you!” and at that Kyle smiles widely and Dan gives her a high five and she giggles and still looks completely bemused by the whole situation. “How do I work with him though,” she asks, mockingly behind her hand and in a stage whisper and pointing at Kyle. “Cos he’s a sarcastic asshole and I hear he can be a pain…”

 

Kyle gives her an unimpressed look and looks to Dan for support.

 

“Hey, just do what we do and smile and nod…” Dan replies which earns him half a bread roll to the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go guys!
> 
> No links at the moment, but i'm sure I will annoy you with more of my crazy music later in the story.
> 
> Please enjoy, and comment if you feel like it xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Sorry, was planning on doing this sooner, but laptop problems!  
> Please enjoy.

Chapter Three

Walking home after their evening out on the darkened, but still busy streets of London, Kyle pulls Dan closer to his right side, slinging his arm around his shoulders and making a sign indicating he wanted to hold Dan’s right hand. He bends his elbow and makes sure his is able to hook their fingers together in the touch.

 

“So what made you decide that then?” Kyle eventually asks, after walking for a good ten minutes in silence.

 

“Hm?” Dan murmurs, deep in thought himself about what Jools had said over dinner and not really paying attention to his surroundings. “What? Jools?” He says, finally realising what Kyle was asking him. Kyle nods in agreement.

 

“Yeah, I mean I’ve known her for years, but you literally just met her!”

 

“You’re forgetting something though,” Dan says, elbowing his lover in the side. “I’ve got form for this. I remember asking a certain lanky keyboard player to join my band after twenty minutes of drunken chat.”

 

Kyle stops suddenly; pulling Dan backwards as he kept walking without realising the other had stopped.

 

“Yeah, but I thought that was because you wanted in my pants?” Kyle says, his face full of seriousness, and looking as confused as his features could manage.

 

“Oh, I did!” Dan says, matter of factly. Kyle shrugs and starts walking again. “And look at how well I did! It only took how many years?”

 

“You were clearly playing the long game babe.” He replies and Dan huffs a laugh out as he is seized again and pulled beside his boyfriend. “So you going to answer my question then?”

 

“Jools?” Dan asks him again and Kyle rolls his eyes at him. “Yeah, well like I said I have no clue what I’m doing and she seems to know something about that kinda thing. Seemed a good idea at the time.” This time it’s his turn to stop abruptly, and he pulls Kyle back towards him to gently kiss him. Pulling away he presses their foreheads together. “And the last time I had a good feeling about something like this, I didn’t regret it,” he whispers against Kyle’s lips, and feels the other man smile in return.

 

Clasping their hands together again they finish their walk back to the flat.

 

\---

 

Sunday was spent in a bit of a haze. After spending a couple of hours in bed together, wrapped in each other’s warmth - Dan admiring how his ‘promise ring’ and Kyle’s finger tattoo looked next to each other – Kyle made the concerted effort to rise from the pit which was his bed and start clearing some space for Dan’s things.

 

Hanging up clothes and moving furniture around the bedroom, he could see Dan watching him from the bed. Dan himself was meant to be creating a contract for Jools to sign the following day. She was still employed in her current position, but was only part time and therefore able to meet up on the Monday to discuss the position and working terms.

 

However, his boyfriend huffing and puffing his way around the bedroom nearby was easily distracting Dan. Kyle was dressed in only grey jogging bottoms, which were slightly too big for him. Because of this, they were riding dangerously low on his hips, ever threatening to show more than they were meant to. Kyle eventually stops what he’s doing and looks at Dan, standing with his hands on his hips and a raised eyebrow.

 

“Are you gonna help me or work?” he asks him pointedly. “Note the option of creepily watching me tidy up wasn’t on the list of options, Smith.” And he throws one of Dan’s t-shirts at him, hitting him right over the head.

 

Dan does eventually finish the contract. It was essentially the same one that they had always used, but with some things changed so was easy to manipulate the way he needed it. He helps Kyle and then they end up falling into bed ridiculously early, eating Chinese takeaway and watching films on Netflix.

 

\---

 

Dan’s alarm woke the men up early the following day, and the early morning was a huge shock to the system for both of them, and Dan automatically chooses to snooze the alarm. They had texted Jools the previous day and told her the address of the studio and to meet them there at half nine. They had then had to let Will and Woody know about the new addition and also tell them to come back in to the studio to meet her.

 

The replies they had gotten back weren’t the most enthusiastic Dan had ever received from them, but he would talk to them when he saw them. The snooze alarm went off again on Dan’s phone and he growls at it before hitting the snooze button once more on the phone before pulling the duvet over his head to hide from the time.

 

Kyle crawls out of the bed to feed the cats and shower. By the times Kyle walks back into the bedroom to make sure Dan had actually gotten out of bed, twenty minutes has passed, and Dan is snoring softly again into the pillow. He gives him a disapproving look, knowing that they’re going to end up being late at this rate. He walks over to the man lying in his bed and stands over him staring at him while he thinks and brushes his teeth at the same time. He tries to shake him awake, but all that happens is the singer turns over to face away from him.

 

Eventually, he pulls the duvet cover off of Dan’s head and bends down until his face is poised over the other man’s ear. He can feel toothpaste running down the handle of his toothbrush and he lets it fall into his boyfriend’s ear canal.

 

It’s like an instantaneous reaction. As it happens, Kyle takes a step backwards away from the bed, and Dan sits bolt upright in the bed screaming loudly.

 

“Eurgh! Oh my God! What the _fuck_ was that?” and he scans the room until he sees Kyle standing in the corner of the room still brushing his teeth, but with a beaming smile on his face.

 

“Morning, princess,” he says to him and wanders back into the bathroom to rinse his mouth.

 

By the time the two of them were ready to walk out the front door it was already quarter past nine, and they had told the other men they would meet them at 9am. With the studio being literally a five-minute walk from Kyle’s flat, they jogged down to the building, letting themselves in and waving to the receptionist as they passed.

 

They take the stairs two at a time and finally reach their door almost in record time. Falling into the studio, Will and Woody are both sitting down and look at them as they collapse, gasping for breath. Woody automatically stands up, walks to the piano and picks up the two Starbucks cups sitting in the cup carrier and hands one to each of them.

 

Kyle takes it from him, points to the cup, points to himself and then gives a thumbs up before collapsing on a foldable chair that had been put out. Dan manages to get his voice back a lot quicker than his surprisingly unfit boyfriend.

 

“Cheers mate,” he says as he takes it and then sits down after taking his jacket off.

 

Will sits in place on his own chair with his legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed and he takes a sip from his own cup.

 

“So who is this person we’re now working with Dan?” He asks, with an edge to voice.

 

“Ah, yeah!” Dan says, as if he’s suddenly remembering why they’re there. “Jools! Well, she’s Kyle’s friend from school?” he asks and looks at Kyle questioningly, receiving a slight head nod in return, him clearly not able to verbalise anything yet. “I met her on Saturday and she seemed to have some good ideas, so I’ve asked her to come work with, well us, I suppose in a kind of personal assistant stroke consultant position.” He finishes up, and smiles at the others.

 

There is silence as the men seem to digest the information. The phone goes in the booth and Dan runs in quickly to answer it. Coming out and announcing that Jools was downstairs he heads out the door to go and collect her.

 

After he leaves, the door is barely shut before hell seems to break loose.

 

“What the fuck, Kyle?” Will screams at the keyboard player, standing up and towering over him at the same time as shouting it. Kyle just looks at him completely shocked.

 

Will is so mild mannered, he didn’t think in all the years he had known the man he had ever seen him angry. But in that moment, his face was red; he was clenching fists and literally bearing down on Kyle.

 

“What? I haven’t done anything!” he says finally, finding his voice.

 

“No, but you’re sleeping with him, can you not talk some bloody sense into him?” Will shouts again.

 

“What do you mean sense?” Kyle asks, and Woody finally gets up and walks towards Will, putting a hand on his shoulder and trying to calm him down.

 

“C’mon, Will mate, sit down and calm down yeah?” he says, as calmly as he can. Will seems to take notice and sits down again, but he doesn’t lower his tone when he speaks again.

 

“He’s just approved someone else we have to work with without talking to any of the rest of us! What with the shit that went down with Sharon and her fucking mother, is this someone else we have to worry about?”

 

Kyle opens his mouth to reply to him and the door opens again, and Dan walks in with Jools behind him, chatting away and laughing about something together.

 

“Dan!” Woody exclaims as they walk into the room, and before Will is able to say anything more about the new arrival. “Will wants to talk to you in the booth quickly,” and he walks back over to Will, grabs his arm and drags him off the seat before dragging him over to the door of the booth and throwing him inside.

 

“Alright…” Dan says suspiciously, glancing at Kyle who just nods his head sadly at him and shrugs. Dan walks into the booth to see Will and Woody shuts the door behind them.

 

Jools stands quietly at the door to the studio and looks very awkwardly around the room at everything there. Kyle takes pity on her and walks over quickly, hands her his coffee and she drinks deeply from the cup.

 

“So, this is Woody,” he says after she swallows and hands the cup back to him. “Woody this is Jools.” And Woody puts his hand out to shake the woman’s hand.

 

“So you’ve known Kyle for a long time huh?” he says to her and she nods as she sits down on the chair Kyle had vacated for her.

 

“Yeah, never seen him perform or anything though,” she says, “and not really a huge font of knowledge on ay of the rest of you so I’m sorry if I get anything wrong,” she adds apologetically.

 

“Really?” Woody asks, genuinely surprised. “Why did you take the job then?”

 

“A way I can use my degree I suppose?” She says. “I’m not exactly doing anything with it at the moment, and not knowing anything about you guys is probably better, cos I’m not overly invested in what you’ve done before and what you can do in the future.”

 

Woody just looks at her. Kyle hides a small smirk. He knows Jools will blow the guys away with her knowledge and what she can offer, so he doesn’t care that she knows nothing about them. It’s a breath of fresh air after the past couple of months to have someone around who didn’t want to manipulate them in any way.

 

He looks up through the window at the booth. Now if only Will can calm down for long enough to realise how much this will help everything.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Please leave a comment x


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Dan strolls into the darkened booth and glances at Will standing in the corner with his back to him. He jumps slightly when Woody closes the door behind him and he watches the drummer go and greet Jools through the window with a handshake before paying attention to his bass player.

 

“What’s going on Will?” Dan asks finally, and Will turns around to look at him, still with an icy stare.

 

Dan moves over to the desk and perches against it. He pulls the desk chair out and rolls it towards the other man, inviting him to sit down. Will catches the arm of the chair and spins it so he has his hands leaning on the back rest.

 

“I’m pissed off, Dan, that’s what’s going on.” He says after a minute of silent staring.

 

“Well yeah,” Dan replies, crossing his arms. “I’m getting that, but I don’t know why.”

 

Will huffs out a small derisory laugh and throws his hands up in the air. He puts one hand on his forehead in desperation and starts to laugh a little manically.

 

“Are you not aware of the complete and total shit you’ve put us all through over the past couple of months?” He starts. “Woody and me have had to handle you and Kyle falling out, getting back together, coming out, fighting, leaked photos, crazy mother managers, dropping managers, you buggering off on holiday…do I really need to go on?”

 

Dan looks at him as he lists the crap that had been circling them since they got back from tour. But they had it all sorted now, so none of this should be a problem.

 

“Will, this is all a non-issue now though! Its sorted, done, finished…”

 

“Yeah! For you maybe!” Will interrupts. “Have you even thought about how all this shit impacted the rest of us? You didn’t talk to us about getting rid of Dave. You just did it. You didn’t tell us that Sharon was blackmailing you until you had agreed with Dave that you would let her join. You just did it. Don’t even get me started on all the shit you and Kyle put online after the photos came out. You just did it. And now, you’ve hired someone to work with us…ALL OF US…with consulting ANY of us!” Will finishes, pacing backwards and forwards while counting out on his fingers every time Dan had done something off his own back.

 

“But it’s my band…” Dan starts to say.

 

“Oh you didn’t just say that did you?” Will rounds on him, eyes wide, eyebrows raised and his face now an interesting shade of puce. He points a finger at Dan and as he speaks next he prods the man’s chest with it. “You may be the singer, and write the songs, but we are all part of this! We should all have a say in things that affect us. If you just want someone to nod and agree, go and get any old studio bassist off the street, cos that’ll be me out!”

 

Dan can’t move anywhere. He was leaning against the desk as the tirade started and as Will got closer and closer he had climbed into a sitting position and was almost plastered against the soundproof glass behind him.

 

Will finally sees that he’s gotten a bit too close to Dan, pulls his hand away from him and goes back to the desk chair before collapsing into it. He puts his head in his hands and Dan manages to move back to the edge of the desk again, now that his personal space had been vacated. Will takes a deep breath in and exhales slowly, trying to compose himself.

 

“Look,” Will starts again. His voice is now a normal level and appears a lot calmer. “I’m not saying what happened this year wasn’t crappy for you. What I am saying is that if you had involved everyone from the start, maybe things would have been different.” He looks up at the younger man and sees he’s still paying attention. “What we do here impacts everyone alright? Woody’s had to put up with some shit too and he’s been stressed himself. I just want to know that we’ll all be consulted about big things in the future.”

 

Dan stays quiet for a minute. He tries to figure out a way to say something that won’t set Will off again. He realises that the guy must be pretty stressed to have gone off like that, and the last thing he wanted was for him to quit. He pushes off from the edge of the desk and moves over to him, crouching down so that he is eye level with the man.

 

“Will, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that anything was wrong.” Will snorts at him. “Seriously man, I was so caught up in everything, I just thought I would make the best decisions for everyone.” Will looks at him again and raises an eyebrow. “OK, well maybe I didn’t make the best decisions,” Dan admits. “But at the very least, right now, with Jools? We’re gonna need someone to help us out. None of us know what we’re doing, and she can field questions and calls and stuff. And she has a degree that’ll maybe help us. Can we at least give her a chance? I wrote the contract last night and there’s like a three-month probationary period so if it doesn’t work out we can let her go. Please Will, I need your help with this.” Dan finally pleads with him and Will looks into his eyes and see the desperation there.

 

“Alright,” he sighs. “You’re right anyway, we need someone to help with this stuff now.” He relents.

 

Dan stands up and puts his hand out to the bass player. Will looks at it quickly and grabs hold before pulling himself up and into a brotherly hug with the singer.

 

“You need to talk to me in the future!” Dan says into his shoulder. “I’m clearly a self absorbed idiot who can’t read other people, help me out here yeah?” and Will chuckles.

 

“An idiot yeah, but not self absorbed, Dan. Enthusiastic maybe,” and Dan laughs loudly at the admission.

 

They pull away from the hug and look at each other.

 

“We good?” Dan asks him.

 

“We’re good. Come on, introduce me to your new receptionist!”

 

\---

 

Minutes earlier, the other half of the band and the newly appointed ‘receptionist’ were staring opened mouthed as they saw Dan’s back pressed up against the booth’s window.

 

Kyle shoots up quickly to go and help out, but Woody pushes him back in his chair quickly.

 

“Mate its Will, he won’t hurt him. Let them fight this out yeah?” and Kyle glares back at him. “I know you want to ‘ride to protect his honour’ and all that shit, but seriously, Will has some stuff he needs to say to him.”

 

“’Ride to protect his honour’? Dude, this is Kyle, he wouldn’t protect anyone. He’d trip over an old lady if it meant he got out of a burning building alive.” Jools interrupts, and Kyle then shoots her a bitch face that would have killed if it could.

 

He finally relaxes as Dan moves away from the window and they watch Will sit down in the back of the booth.

 

“You working here was not meant to end in you slagging me off every chance you get woman!” Kyle responds to his friend. “And you!” he points at Woody who’s still laughing at the comment, “don’t encourage her!”

 

He picks up his coffee cup and drains the remaining liquid from it before aiming it at the bin in the corner and throwing. As it hits the rim and bounces inside he throws his arms up in the air in celebration. This in turn leads to Woody taking a piece of paper, balling it up and drop kicking it towards the bin, which he spectacularly misses.

 

“No way am I letting the most unfit man I’ve met beat me at this game!” he exclaims and runs over to get the paper back and try again.

 

“Hang on!” Kyle cries. “Dan’s way more unfit and uncoordinated than I am!” he shouts.

 

“Thanks babe,” comes a new voice from the door of the booth, and the three of them all look up to see Dan and Will watching them with their arms crossed.

 

“A total charmer that one,” Will says to him.

 

“Tell me about it. How did I get so lucky?” Dan deadpans back, and he sees Kyle going red behind his facial hair. “So, Will this is Jools. Jools, this is Will Farquarson, he’s our bass player. And I see you’ve met Woody.” He says as he walks over and grabs Kyle’s neck and pulls his head down to kiss him on the temple.

 

“Awww, it’s sickening isn’t it?” Woody says as he watches them, Jools miming throwing up behind them.

 

“OK,” Dan says commandingly. “So I employed Jools here to help with our image, to sort out the admin side of things and deal with emails and calls. Is that alright with everyone here?” he asks, purposefully looking at each of the men until they make a decision one way or the other. They all nod at him.

 

“Cool. So the first thing to do then in the interest of being fair and open with everyone,” he continues pointedly looking at Will who smiles back at him, “over the past couple of months there’s been a lot of stuff going on. But, me and Kyle have become pretty serious, and while not officially engaged, we are heading that way soon, so I just wanted everyone to know so that it isn’t leaked or speculated on.”

 

Jools looks a bit shocked at that and punches Kyle on the shoulder.

 

“You didn’t tell me this!” she shrieks.

 

“I haven’t told anyone this!” He shouts back at her, moving out of the way of another punch. “STOP HITTING ME!”

 

“Why speculation?” Will asks interestingly and Kyle looks at him.

 

“Seriously man? You haven’t seen this mate?” and he holds up the ring finger of his left hand, showing him the tattoo he had gotten in Ibiza of Dan’s initials.

 

“Wow! I hadn’t even noticed what that said you know! I get it now. Speculation.” And Will heads over to his seat and pulls out his phone to look at twitter and see if anyone else had noticed anything.

 

“You got anything like that?” Jools asks Dan, and he holds up his middle finger on his left hand to show her his ring. “Ah right, OK, just in case anyone asks what do you want us to say?”

 

“Well, I’ll leave that up to you to think up some ideas. You know as your first task!” and he laughs.

 

“I can’t believe none of the fans have picked up on that Kyle!” Woody says, looking at Will’s phone screen over his shoulder. “You’re so lucky no one can see your hands when we’re on stage.”

 

Suddenly, there is an official sounding knock coming from the door of the studio. The guys all look at each other with confusion. No one was supposed to be allowed up without them being informed or going down to get them.

 

Dan gets off of Kyle’s lap where he had been pulled while Will and Woody were skimming through their timelines, and walks over to the door and opens it. Kyle watches him and can see the way he stills and then his shoulders stiffen when he sees who the visitor at the door is.

 

“Dan?” Kyle calls. “Who is it?” he asks and Dan looks round at him with an awful look on his face. He pulls the door full open and standing in the doorway are a man and a woman in full police uniform.

 

“Can we help you with something guys?” Dan asks politely, and glances at the concerned and confused faces of the other people behind him.

 

“We’re looking for Kyle Simmons.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! x


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

“I’m Kyle,” comes a voice from behind Dan, and Dan turns to see Kyle raising his hand in his seat and doing a small wave with two fingers.

 

It takes all of his control not to giggle at the sight. He thinks it must be the shock of having two police officers standing on the threshold looking for his partner, but he finds the whole situation bizarre and frankly hilarious.

 

“What’s all this about,” he manages to get out without laughing and the two officers look at him quickly and dismiss him out of hand. The man pushes past Dan swiftly and walks over to where Kyle is sitting.

 

“Mr. Simmons, we’re going to need you to come down to the station with us to answer some questions.”

 

Kyle stands up quickly and looks more confused by the second. He glances at Dan and Dan can’t do anything but shrug back at him. Dan moves towards the two men standing in front of him and tries his question again.

 

“Seriously, what’s all this about?” and he puts his arm around Kyle’s waist to give him some support.

 

“You are?” the man asks after looking Dan up and down and assessing the situation in front of him.

 

“This is my partner, you can tell him anything you need to tell me,” Kyle answers for him.

 

“Well, there have been some allegations made about you, Sir, and we need you to come down to the station to try and sort them out.”

 

“What kind of allegations?” Dan and Kyle both ask at exactly the same time. The policeman looks around the room and then at his colleague, who doesn’t say anything back to him.

 

“I don’t think it’s anything you want to discuss here, Sir,” he says a diplomatically as possible.

 

“It’s fine, honestly, these guys will need to know sooner or later anyway,” Kyle says simply. The officer looks back at his colleague again who simply raises a well-manicured eyebrow at him. Dan notices this and realises she must mean it was up to the officer to decide whether to say anything.

 

“We’ve had an allegation of rape against you sir and we are going to need to you to come down to the station to try and give us your side of the story.”

 

“Rape?” shouts Jools from behind them, shocked.

 

“Rape?” Kyle asks. “Who is it that I’ve meant to have raped?”

 

“We’ll discuss this down at the station sir, please if you come with us now.” The officer says and takes Kyle gently but firmly by the upper arm and starts to lead him to the door.

 

“Which station are you taking him to?” Dan asks, and the female officer tells him the address and he finds a pen to write it down quickly. “Ky, I’ll meet you there alright, we’ll get this sorted!” he calls as Kyle is led away and he sees his lover glance back at him, still confused and a slight sign of panic in his eyes as he looks at Dan.

 

The door shuts behind them and the whole room is silent as they digest everything that has just happened. Dan’s still standing next to the piano where he had moved to write down the address of the police station, and he has his hand over his mouth, in complete and utter shock.

 

Will and Woody have both collapsed into the chairs that were out for the meeting and just looking into space, wide eyed and unbelieving. The only movement is when Woody runs his hands through his long shaggy hair.

 

Jools is the one who seems to crack first and starts to talk.

 

“Right, well then,” she says. “Dan, do you have a lawyer or anyone you should call?” She asks the singer and this seems to spur him into action.

 

“Yes, God, lawyer, right,” he mutters to himself as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and scrolls through the names in front of him until he finds the name of his lawyer. He clicks on the call button and puts it up to his ear as he waits for the call to be connected.

 

“Jools, I need you to keep an eye on the news and social media, and if anything comes up about this we need to keep on top of it alright?” he says to the woman as he listens to the rings on the other end of the phone. He notices Will and Woody pull their phones out and start to see if anything had been said.

 

“Hi, Jamie?” Dan asks as he hears a click and a male voice greeting on his handset.

 

“Yes?” the man says.

 

“It’s Dan Smith, from Bastille,” he introduces himself. “We’ve got a bit of a situation here.”

 

“Another one Dan?” his lawyer jests down the phone, “this is becoming a bit of a habit for you.”

 

“Yeah, but this is a bit more serious.” Dan says urgently down the phone and he can sense the other man tense up, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Kyle has just been taken in for questioning by the police for rape.”

 

And all of a sudden Dan can hear a flurry of activity and paperwork down the phone as his lawyer seems to gear up. He assures Dan down the phone that someone with expertise will be there to help, he takes the address of the police station and they both hang up quickly.

 

Dan spends what seems like an eternity staring at his phone screen as he hung up. The lock screen image was one of him and Kyle in bed together and was his favourite photo of them. He feels tears welling up, but manages to blink them away before they fall.

 

“Right, I’m going to the station to wait for him and see what’s going on,” he eventually says. He can see that there are other conversations going on between the three others, but he hasn’t been listening and couldn’t say what any of them had been about.

 

“Are you going to be alright, Dan?” Will asks him, concerned for his friend’s wellbeing as well as Kyle’s.

 

“I’ll be good. I just think we need to get ahead of this, yeah?” he says and nods as he shrugs his jacket back on and heads out the door. “I’ll call you when I know anything,” he says and he shuts the door on them and heads out to hail a cab.

 

\---

 

It’s only a short ride to the station, but Dan can’t think of anything but his boyfriend on the entire journey. He has no idea who has made this allegation, but he knows for a fact that there is no way that he could have done this. Kyle is too gentle and caring to even think of not stopping if he was asked, and he is certain that he hasn’t slept with anyone else since they got together, no matter what other people have been trying to say.

 

He opens the door of the taxi, and pulls out a ten-pound note to pay the driver with. He can’t be bothered to wait for the change, so he slams the door shut and walks quickly towards the door of the police station.

 

He pulls the door open and walks up to the reception desk. It is chest height and has what appears to be a civilian police worker behind a pane of glass, that Dan assumes is bulletproof and there for security and safety.

 

He waits for the woman to finish the paperwork she is doing and look up at him. She seems to take forever, and eventually Dan does a polite cough to try and make her aware he is waiting. She finally looks up and gives him a hard look with a hint of a smile when she asks what he was needing help with.

 

“My partner was brought in here, Kyle Simmons?” He says quietly. “I was just wondering whether there was any news and what exactly is happening with him?”

 

She looks at him again and picks up a phone, signaling him to wait a moment. Dan takes this time to look around the area he had walked into. There was glass along the front and the room was bright and airy. The walls were painted a hospital grey colour and there were notice boards with information pinned on them about neighbourhood watch and the missing people. H notices the fabric office chairs that were lined around the room and wondered briefly if they were comfortable. He supposed he was going to be there a while.

 

He notices the woman hang up the phone and he brings his attention back to the person in front of him, smiling again to try and seem approachable and nice. His anxiety was kicking in hard, and he didn’t want to cause any trouble for the woman behind the desk.

 

“Mr. Simmons is currently waiting for his interview. I can’t say how long it is going to take, but I can take a phone number and get him to call you when they know what’s happening?”

 

“Uhm, no it’s OK,” Dan says uncertainly. “I think I’ll stay here and wait for him, is that alright too?” and the woman just shrugs and points to the seats behind him.

 

He chooses one in the corner with a number either side of him and settles in for a long wait.

 

\---

 

He is sitting in that chair for half an hour, flicking through his phone and trying to pay attention to his games, but eventually he throws his phone on the chair next to him and he throws his head back, sighing loudly. The woman behind the desk glances up at the noise, but seeing no problems looks back down again quickly. He had seen another man, dressed in a three piece suit and holding a briefcase wander in about 10 minutes earlier and heard him ask for Kyle at the desk too. He was quickly escorted through and Dan assumed that had been the lawyer that Jamie had sent in.

 

There is a movement at the door and he lets his head fall to the side to see what it is when he sees the rest of the band and Jools walk through and striding towards him.

 

They don’t say a word, but Will and Woody sit either side of him and Jools sits next to Will. They hand him a cup of coffee and both put a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he starts to sip from the cardboard cup.

 

“What are you guys doing here?” Dan eventually asks after a couple of sips.

 

“We’re here for support mate. I told you, we’re all in this together now.” Will says and squeezes his shoulder gently.

 

“There’s nothing online yet,” Jools pipes up reassuringly. “And the guys are keeping an eye on social media, and nothings popped up there either.”

 

“Busy first day for you. Sorry,” Dan apologises to her and gives her a small smile.

 

“This is bullshit Dan. He wouldn’t do that, so I’m here to help any way I can,” She says supportively to him.

 

“Yeah dude.” Woody adds. “Kyle’s an ass, but he wouldn’t do this to anyone.”

 

Dan looks at his friends and colleagues and then starts to stare straight ahead again, before taking another drink. Now all they can do is sit and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! Hope you are enjoying. Please let me know x


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, sorry been AWOL and left you on a bit of a cliffhanger. Please enjoy.

Chapter 6

“Ky, I’ll meet you there alright, we’ll get this sorted!” Kyle hears Dan call and he glances back at him to see pure worry etched all over his handsome features. He throws him a look that hopefully conveys the love he feels for him and let the police officers lead him out of the room and close the door behind him.

 

One he hears the click of the door shutting, Kyle realises he doesn’t have to put up a front any longer and his entire demeanour and posture changes. His shoulders slump forward in defeat and he lets out a breath he doesn’t realise he’s holding. He looks up to see the law enforcers are intently watching him, so he tries to straighten up as much as he can manage.

 

“Right then. Shall we go?” he says to them and allows them to lead the way down the stairs, through the foyer and towards the police car beyond.

 

The place him in the back of the panda car and he settles into the seat and leans his head against the cool glass of the window, shutting his eyes briefly. He feels the front doors open and hears the officers get inside themselves. As the car starts, he opens his eyes again and sees the female officer looking over her shoulder at him.

 

“Are you playing the piano on your leg?” she asks inquisitively, and Kyle glances down to his right hand where he sees that he is indeed tapping familiar notes out on his thigh. He only does this when he is extremely anxious or scared, so he doesn’t know why the sight surprises him so.

 

“Uhm…yeah?” he replies, suddenly feeling foolish.

 

“Cool,” the woman says. “I wish I could play an instrument, but I’m tone deaf,” and a snort comes from the driver, clearly remembering an ‘in-joke’ between them.

 

Kyle smiles shyly back at her, not quite sure how to handle the unexpected friendliness being shown to him. He was being taken in for rape, surely they should be ignoring him, or insulting him like they do on the TV? Seeming to sense his confusion, the girl keeps talking.

 

“I’m sure this will be dealt with quickly, try not to panic about it,” and this earns her a scowl from her partner. Realising she had said something out of turn, she tries changing the subject. “So what are you trying to play?” She asks and nods towards his hand that was still tapping out a rhythm.

 

“Anything really,” he says, not really knowing the answer himself. He looked down at his hand and tried to recognise the song his hand seemed to be playing and waits for a couple of seconds until the song registers. “Something by Mika I think,” he finally says and shrugs his shoulders. “It happens when I’m nervous,” he tries to explain, and the girl tries to wave it off as if he didn’t need to justify himself to her.

 

They pulled up shortly to the police station, and the car was parked at a back entrance. The officers get out and the man opens the back door and lets Kyle organise himself and exit the vehicle. They then lead him through a card access security door and towards a desk with another officer behind it.

 

Kyle was told to sit down on a wooden bench as the three of them deliberated and discussed the situation, and then the male officer walked back over to him.

 

“So, we’re going to take you to the interview suite alright? Two of our colleagues will come and speak to you, but you aren’t under arrest OK?”

 

Kyle looks up at the man and studies him with wide eyes for the first time. He is only in his mid twenties and he is clearly well built and muscular under his stab vest and black metropolitan police uniform. He has his hat off with them being indoors and he has his short blond hair gelled back from his face. He was handsome in a traditional sense, but really not Kyle’s type. He nods at the man as he stands up to follow him.

 

He is led through a maze of long corridors and up a single flight of stairs before they stop at a dark brown door with a sign on it that read ‘vacant’. Kyle could see it was one of the signs that could be slid over and was sure that when the slider was moved it would have ‘engaged’ on the other side.

 

The officer unlocks the door and lets Kyle enter ahead of him. There are no lights on and the room is dark as he walks in. The lights must be on some sort of sensor, as the automatically blink on as he walks into the room, almost blinding him with the brightness.

 

“My colleagues will be here shortly OK?” the man says and waits for him to nod before shutting the door and leaving Kyle on his own.

 

Finally alone and still confused with the entire situation, Kyle decides its time to take stock. He looks around the room and takes in all the details he can see. There are no windows in the room, which would account for why it was so dark despite it still being daylight outside. The walls are painted an off white, and he can see discolouration from where previous furniture has been moved and previous ‘guests’ had had some altercations.

 

There is a large round IKEA table in the corner of the room and he heads over to it to see what literature was strewn across it. He scans the leaflets and ends up choosing a couple including ‘What to do after a Death in England’ and a handy hints guide on how to protect his house from burglars. He walks over to a sofa that looked like it had been relocated from an office waiting room and settles in the corner of it, trying to make himself seem as small as possible.

 

He pulls the arms of his hoody down over his hands and glances around the room again quickly to see if he had missed anything. He notices a small red light in the ceiling of the room and realises that he is likely to be videoed during his interview, and that seems to heighten his anxiety even more. Trying to put this out of his mind, he opens the first pamphlet and starts to read.

 

He is unsure how long he is left there for, but eventually the door opens and two officious looking women walk in to the room to face him. One of them is wearing a brown trouser suit and the other is wearing a black pencil skirt and they both look smarter than Kyle could ever hope to look.

 

“Kyle Simmons?” the lady in the trouser suit asks, and Kyle nods in reply. She was in her late 40’s and had dark cropped hair. She was clearly the more senior of the women. “I’m Detective Sergeant Young, and this is Detective Constable Franks,” and she indicates to the other woman, who is probably about Kyle’s age and has her long dark blond hair tied back in a ponytail.

 

“Before we start, Mr. Simmons, I must inform you that while you are not under arrest, I will have to caution you that you do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?”

 

Kyle’s head is swimming. He had watched the Bill when he was a kid and he had seen so many police dramas in his life, but he had never though this would happen to him.

 

“Mr. Simmons?” the younger woman asks again, and Kyle snaps his attention back to them and nods.

 

“Right then,” DS Young says and each woman takes a seat in one of the more official looking chairs opposite the man. “Mr. Simmons, we are videoing this interview, so we just have to do a few housekeeping questions. Can you state your full name, age and occupation for the video please?”

 

“Uhm…Kyle Jonathon Simmons, 29, musician,” he answers quickly and quietly.

 

“OK then, Mr. Simmons,” the woman starts again, and Kyle has to stop her quickly.

 

“Please call me Kyle,” he pleads. “Mr. Simmons is my dad or my brother and sounds really weird.”

 

“OK, _Kyle_ ,” she says, but again is interrupted, this time from a knock at the door.

 

DC Franks walks over and pulls it open slightly to talk to the person outside. There is some quiet murmuring while she talks to the visitor and then she walks back over to the sergeant and whispers something in her ear.

 

“Well Kyle, we’re going to give you a couple of minutes,” she says to him. “It looks like your lawyer has arrived,” and she stands and moves towards the door. As they leave, a tall, smart older man walks in with a briefcase and holds his hand out to the keyboard player.

 

“Kyle?” he asks, and feeling more like a nodding dog than ever, Kyle just nods his agreement again. “I’m John Winns, I work with Jamie Knowe and I’m a defense lawyer.”

 

Kyle just watches the man as he speaks. If he works with Jamie that means that Dan had called him for help and his heart leaps at the thought that his lover hadn’t abandoned him. Until that moment he hadn’t even consciously thought of that possibility.

 

“Do you know what any of this is about yet?” and Kyle shakes his head at him. “Right, well I haven’t been fully briefed, but from what I gather someone has rung into the police and claimed that you had sex with their daughter and that the photos that were leaked a few months ago were of her. The thing is she is claiming that her daughter is only 14.” Kyle starts to open his mouth to deny the accusations.

 

“Don’t worry Kyle, from what I can tell they have no evidence apart from those photos, but with Operation Yewtree they have to be seen to be covering all bases. I don’t think they even have a name and that’s why they haven’t arrested you alright?”

 

Before Kyle has any time to respond, the door is opening again and the two detectives walk inside.

 

“I hope that was enough time to get caught up gentleman,” DS Young says as she enters and walks back to the seat she had previously occupied. “So lets get this started then. Kyle, we have had a telephone call that says you engaged in sexual intercourse with a minor and that photos of this have ended up on the Internet.”

 

Kyle takes a deep breath and looks at his lawyer. The older man just shakes his head to tell him not to say anything and so he just looks back at the woman in front of him.

 

“We have seen the photographs in question, and the man in them is definitely you, but we do not have the face of the girl in them. Are you able to shed any light on this?”

 

“I haven’t had sex with a woman for nearly a year now,” Kyle says to the women. “I am currently in a committed relationship with my partner and have not cheated on him.”

 

“These photos would appear to suggest otherwise Kyle,” DC Franks says to him and pulls a copy of the pictures out and hands it to Kyle and his lawyer.

 

Being faced with his drugged out lifeless body, and the naked torso of his boyfriend’s sister again, Kyle just shuts his eyes and passes the photo over to his lawyer to see.

 

“Mr. Simmons is clearly passed out in this photo and apart from the fact that they are both naked it doesn’t suggest anything other than that is definitely a female.” John Winns says quickly.

 

“But it does indicate that Kyle has been lying when he says he hasn’t slept with another woman. The date on the clock in the background clearly shows that this was from only a few months ago.” DS Young says triumphantly.

 

“Two things,” Kyle pipes up, getting more and more frustrated by the second. “Firstly, I didn’t sleep with her. I did not have sex with that girl on that night. Secondly,” he continues, “I know for a fact that that girl was not 14.”

 

“Well, Kyle, tell us who the girl is and we can get this all checked out and sorted for you,” Franks says.

 

Kyle goes silent. He really wished that Dan was there with him in that moment. He had a tough choice to make here. Ella and Dan’s parents had still never been told about the reason of Ella’s overdose and had never known about the leaked photos. If he gives them Ella’s name then she would be dragged in and Dan’s family could be in trouble. But if he didn’t…

 

The alternative could be horrendous.

 

“The girl was 16. I was given something and passed out. She told me later that she did it because she liked me but that we definitely hadn’t slept together.” Kyle tries diplomatically.

 

“Can you give us the girl’s name Kyle so we can check your story?” One of the women asks him. He can’t even tell which one, his head in his hands and him not wanting to face any consequences.

 

He sits forward, his elbows on his knees and he cards his hand through his hair and then over his face, trying to soothe his facial hair into some semblance of normalcy.

 

“If I tell you the name, can I hear a recording of the phone call you got?” He tries. He has a fair idea of what voice he will hear, but he needs to hear it to be sure.

 

The detectives are quiet for a moment and they look at each other. DS Young finally makes a decision and pulls a mobile out of her pocket, tapping the screen a few times and putting the phone to her ear. She asks the person on the other end to send her the recording through to her phone and then hangs up and looks at Kyle expectantly.

 

“The girl is called Ella Smith. She’s the sister of my boyfriend, Dan Smith.” And he hears a gasp come from the younger woman. She hadn’t made any sign that she had recognised him, but she had given herself away with that small noise. Kyle looks up quickly and sees the shock in the woman’s face. “Can I hear the recording now please?” he asks, completely defeated.

 

The mobile phone is held out while the clip is loaded and is played for them all to hear. Kyle listens to the voice complain loudly about him and what he had supposedly done. It knows a lot of detail about the photos and the leaked story to the press. He listens until the end, but by the second sentence he already knew who the woman was.

 

Margaret had started her revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Operation Yewtree (for non UK readers or people not in the know) is a huge operation in England trying to identify historic and current paedophile and rape cases carried out by celebrities (most notably Jimmy Saville in the 1970's and 80's)  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yewtree#Concurrent_investigations
> 
> Hope you enjoy. Comments always welcomed. x


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Dan feels his eyelids get heavier and heavier as he sits in the same position for what feels like an eternity. He looks at his wrist at the time and realises he has been waiting for over two hours, and he was starting to worry about what was happening with Kyle.

 

Will and Jools were still sitting next to each other on one side of him. They had started to swap stories about what they had each done in America on their visits and were now showing each other photos and holiday pictures on each other’s phones. Woody was on Dan’s other side. He had tried to get involved with the conversation, but had quickly become bored and moved back to his own seat. He was also intently looking at something on his mobile, and when Dan looked over his shoulder to see what it was he could see some sort of football news site and quickly looked away, knowing he would have no idea what it was about.

 

As he was about to get up and stretch his legs, a noise comes from the corner of the room next to the front desk. Dan looks up and sees the door into the main station opening and two women and two men walk through. He quickly recognised one of the men as Kyle, and he jumped to his feet and strode quickly over to him.

 

Kyle looks up at the movement and before he can do anything, his arms are full of Dan wrapping him up in a tight hug. The women and other man look away quickly, slightly embarrassed by the public display of affection between the men and after a small cough from the older man, the men break away from each other.

 

“Uhm, so what happens now then?” Kyle asks once he has let Dan go, and Dan looks at the women who Kyle has directed the question to.

 

“Well, we’ll check what you’ve told us and if everything is as you said we will close the case and discard the allegation. We will let you know as soon as we know anything.” The older of the females says. She nods at the other woman and they both say goodbye and walk back through the door.

 

“Kyle, I’ll be in touch if I hear anything as well,” the man says and holds his hand out for Kyle to shake and excuses himself from their presence.

 

Once they have been left, Dan stares at Kyle and just hugs him fiercely again, before gripping his hand tightly and pulling him over to the other three. Jools immediately stands up and pulls him toward her.

 

“What the hell happened? I know you didn’t do anything so what did they say?” she demands from him. Kyle just shakes his head and looks at the group as a whole.

 

“I really need to get home guys,” he says to them all. “Why don’t we got there and I’ll explain what happened?”

 

The others accept his invitation and they manage to find a taxi and head back to his flat.

 

\---

 

After all crowding through the front door and into Kyle’s, each of them tries to find a space to settle in. Kyle goes into the kitchen to put the kettle on for everyone and Dan walks over to the couch and takes a space there. Will sits on one of the dining chairs, which were in the corner of the room, and Jools takes another. Woody decides to use the floor and relaxes next to the cheese plant at the end of the sofa.

 

Kyle comes back into the room and Dan immediately puts his hand out to him and Kyle walks over to take it, and is automatically pulled onto the couch and into Dan’s side. He relaxes his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder and Dan places a soft kiss onto the crown of his head.

 

“Margaret rang the police to say the photos online were of me and a 14 year old girl.” Kyle says simply, without moving position. He feels the arms around him get tighter as Dan’s anger flares.

 

“What did you say?” Jools asks from the side of the room.

 

Kyle doesn’t say anything and Dan looks down at him expectantly. He can feel him tense as the silence continues.

 

“Kyle?” He says finally, trying to get an answer from him. Kyle pulls away slightly and looks up into his lover’s eyes.

 

“I told them it was Ella. I’m so sorry Dan! I couldn’t see any other way out! They wanted a name to check the facts with. I’m so sorry.” He apologises again and pulls away before throwing his head back onto the back of the sofa.

 

Dan stares at him agape. His brow furrows in confusion and he lightly punches Kyle’s shoulder.

 

“Ky? What the fuck are you apologising for? You told them the truth. I’m not pissed at you for that. We might need to tell Ella, but I’m pissed at Margaret, not at you!” he exclaims and pulls Kyle back in towards him. “I’m just happy you’re safe and home,” he adds. He puts his hands up to frame the man’s face and pulls him up for a sweet kiss.

 

“Oi!” Woody shouts from the floor. “None of us need to see that guys, c’mon!” and Dan reaches behind himself for a cushion and aims it at the drummer’s head in annoyance. It bounces off of Woody’s shoulder and into the plant pot next to him.

 

\---

 

The group spend the afternoon discussing what would happen next and Dan decides he has to head back to his parent’s house to talk to Ella about the probable police visit and see if they can explain the whole situation to their parents.

 

The lovers walk to the front door after the rest of the group had waved to Dan in a parting gesture. Dan opens the door and then leans against the frame as Kyle holds it open for him with one hand and puts his other at Dan’s hip.

 

“I’ll text you when I get there and I’ll ring you when I know what’s happening,” he promises and smiles a reassuring smile at the man he loves.

 

“I love you, Dan,” Kyle says to him, and moves the hand from the man’s hip to behind his neck and pulls him toward him.

 

Their lips meet, not a soft or sweet kiss, but hard, fast and wet - both wanting reassurance from the other. Dan pulls away first and without saying another word walks down the corridor towards the stairs, glancing back one last time before he rounds the corner.

 

Kyle is relieved that Dan wants to do this alone. He would not have felt comfortable in the same house as two people who just found out their daughter is splashed all over the internet naked with their son’s boyfriend. He agrees to stay back in London while Dan heads out – first to his own house to pack and then off into the country.

 

Will and Woody disappear soon after Dan, both having to head back to their respective partners after vanishing for the day with no word. They both hug Kyle before leaving.

 

“It’ll be alright mate yeah?” Will says to him on the threshold.

 

“Yeah, Kyle. If it’s not hit the news by now it won’t alright?” Woody agrees.

 

They had spend a solid couple of hours trawling through gossip sites and all their social media accounts to make sure no one had gotten any news about Kyle being taken to the police station, and the lack of it online made them all feel a bit relieved.

 

He shuts the door behind them and leans back against it. Sighing loudly he pushes off of it and walks back into the living room. Jools is the only one left and she’s collected all the mugs and put them on the table ready to take back into the kitchen. She walks back to the sofa and relaxes in one corner.

  
Kyle walks up to the sofa and pulls off his hoody and throws it on the floor at his feet before relaxing back into his own corner of the couch in his t-short and jeans. He looks at his friend and tries to put on his best smile.

 

Jools reaches down behind her to pick something up from the floor. Kyle hears clinking and looks at what she’s holding. She’s found a bottle of white wine Kyle had in the fridge and two glasses and was holding them up for him to look at.

 

“I think you deserve this.” She says to him and he just nods gratefully at her.

 

He watches her unscrew the top off of the bottle and listens to the chugging noise it makes as she pours two glasses of the straw coloured liquid.

 

“I can’t believe they were all alright about this,” he finally says after he is handed one of the glasses and takes a large sip.

 

“Don’t be stupid, no one in their right mind would ever believe you were capable of doing that,” she replies and gives him a look that dared him to disagree. “Anyway, even if they thought you had I would have set them fucking straight.”

 

Kyle smiles bashfully at her and looks back down at the glass in his hand. She kicks his knee with her own bare foot until he looks up at her.

 

“I know you get annoyed with me saying it, but thank you.” She says when he his eyes meet hers. She just gets a small shrug in response.

 

She was talking about how they had first met.

 

Kyle was 15 and it was the summer holidays. He had been hanging out at the local shops where all of the kids tended to go when they were bored, but it was getting late and he was due home for his curfew. He was walking home and ahead of him was a boy and a girl walking arm and arm, looking happy and in love as they moved along the street in front of him.

 

As he walked he was kicking at the stones on the pavement in front of him and as suck was paying no attention to the couple. After a while he looked up and noticed that the pair had vanished and he started slightly, realising he was alone on the street.

 

Suddenly he heard a scream come from behind him and he had twirled round to see where it had come from. He could hear shouting so he ran to where he thought it was originating. Down an alley and behind a large metal industrial bin, he saw the girl from the couple he had been following being pinned down on the ground with the boy on top of her. She was struggling and trying to get away, whilst the boy was trying to stick his tongue down her throat.

 

As Kyle skidded to a halt, he had made some sort of noise and the boy had looked up at him and smirked when he saw the younger one in front of him.

 

“Hey kid, don’t worry about this alright? She’s a screamer but likes it really. Hang around and you can have a go next yeah?” he says and cocks his eyebrows at him, before attempting to go back to what he had been doing.

 

Kyle had no idea where it had come from, but he saw red and had stormed over, grabbing the boy’s collar and dragging him off of the girl. He had thrown a punch, and it must have been pure adrenaline in his system that landed it because he hadn’t been able to do it before or since then.

 

The older boy looked stunned and realising that he wasn’t going to be able to get away with anything, made a run for it down the alley screaming ‘bitch’, ‘cunt’ and ‘wanker’ as he went.

 

Kyle had moved over to the girl and as he leant down to help her up, he realised that he did in fact know exactly who she was. Jools had been one of the popular girls in the school and had never even noticed Kyle before. She was older and about to enter her final year at the school they both went to. He had smiled warmly at her as he offered her his hand and she grabbed it immediately and grasped to him as if he was her lifeline.

 

Kyle never told anyone about what he had witnessed or what had happened and the boy never said anything either, clearly mortified he had been stopped by someone two years younger than him. But since then they had been extremely close and confided everything to each other.

 

Back in the present, Jools noticed he was clearly remembering the situation and she leans over and pours more alcohol into his glass.

 

“So, you’re alone for a day or two?" she asks without expecting an answer. "I’ve got a school get together tomorrow – you’re coming with and we are getting shit-faced,” she says with a sense of finality.

 

Kyle couldn’t argue with her. When she had that tone, you were never going to win.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The taxi that Dan had called pulled into the long driveway at his parent’s house half an hour after his train had left him at the station. He hadn’t rung his parents or Ella to let them know he was coming, and was hoping that would actually be in when he arrived. Thankfully all of the cars were present when he got out of the car.

 

He pays the cab driver and he uses the large space to perform a three-point turn and drives back down the way he had come in. He knows that the entrance to the drive has an alarm on it, so his mum and dad would definitely know that someone was going to be at the door. He fires off a text to Kyle to let him know he had arrived and then he pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and opens the front door of the house.

 

“Hey!” He calls out, “It’s me!” and he throws his backpack on the floor by the front door before opening the door to the living room to find his parents and sister lounging in front of the television.

 

His mum looks at him with a shocked expression on her face and his dad smiles at him in surprise.

 

“This is unexpected!” His dad declares and gets out of his seat to give him a tight squeeze.

 

“Everything alright?” His mum asks him, and Dan shrugs quickly in response.

 

“Yeah, I’m good. I needed to talk to you guys about some things, and thought it would be better to come in person.”

 

“Nothings happened between you and Kyle has it?” his mum asks him, clearly realising that something is wrong. Mother’s intuition – nothing can beat it.

 

“No mum!” he denies. “Look, I need to speak to Ella and then I’ll come and explain some stuff yeah?” he says and looks directly at his sister with intent and she looks back at him, suddenly looking guilty and worried and rolls off of the large sofa she had been lying on.

 

“You look like crap,” she says as she walks over to him, and they both head out of the lounge and down to her bedroom.

 

They walk in and Dan immediately notices the room hasn’t changed much from when she was much younger. The colour of the walls was still a pale lilac and matched nicely with the pink flowered bedspread she had on the double bed she used. The carpet was a very light grey and still soft after many years of use. The only changes were what was on the walls to decorate them.

 

Like any teenage girl she had cut pictures and photos from magazines and printed screen shots off the computer. Group photos and individual shots of One Direction, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran and Jonas Blue are tacked up all over the walls. In the corner was a well-worn Bastille hoody thrown over a chair and there were a couple of Bastille group shots as well.

 

She watches him as he looks around the room and relaxes onto the end of her bed.

 

“Dan, what?” she says and he looks around and leans against the edge of her dressing table, knocking a number of perfume bottles over and some eye shadows on the floor.

 

“Oh, shit, sorry,” he mumbles and bends over to pick them up. Ella sighs loudly, and reaches out to pull him over to the bed so he sits down and relaxes. He kicks his shoes off and pulls his legs up onto the bed so he can cross them and look at his sister at the same time.

 

“Kyle was taken in by the police this morning,” he ends up saying, frankly and with no preamble. Ella gasps in shock and covers her mouth with her hand.

 

“Is he OK? What did they want? Is he in jail?” she asks all at once, not giving him time to answer each question individually.

 

“He’s fine. He’s out now. They didn’t arrest him, but they did end up asking him a lot of questions. He had been accused of sleeping with someone under age and they though that the photo of you two was of him with this other girl,” he explains to her. “He had to tell them that it was you, and that you didn’t sleep together.” He adds before she can interrupt him. “You’re going to get a call from the police to follow up, but I wanted to be the one to tell you.”

 

Ella sits quietly in stunned silence. She starts to nod in understanding after all the information has sunk in.

 

“Of course he had to say it was me. I don’t want to be the reason he goes to prison for something he didn’t do,” she says eventually. Dan looks at her a little surprised at how mature and grown up she is being about the situation. He gives her a small smile and leans toward her and pulls her into a big brotherly hug.

 

“I love you titch,” he says into her ear, and she playfully shoves him away from her. “We need to tell mum and dad.” He says to her, and she says nothing, but nods again. She was expecting this and was surprised it had been hidden this long. She was ready to tell them now anyway and was relieved she could get it off her chest.

 

“Let’s go then,” she says as she stands up and walks back out of the bedroom door.

 

\---

“WHAT?”

 

Admittedly, Dan had known his dad would be livid. This was the main reason he didn’t want Kyle to come along for the little family get together.

 

“YOU SLEPT WITH KYLE?” he legitimately screams at his daughter and then he rounds on Dan with a vengeance. “YOUR SLUT OF A BOYFRIEND SLEPT WITH YOUR SISTER AND YOU’RE STILL WITH HIM?!”

 

“Dad, don’t shout at me and don’t call him that,” Dan says calmly, trying to defuse the situation. He looks over at his mother who is just looking at Ella with confusion.

 

“Ella, I think you’re going to have to give us a bit more information,” she says to her daughter.

 

“I don’t need to know details!” their father says, a bit less loudly after his wife has nudged him. “All I need to know is that you’re never going to see him again,” and he points at Dan while he says it. Dan looks at him with an unimpressed look on his face and throws his arms in the air in frustration.

 

“If you’re not gonna listen, what’s the fucking point?” he says exasperatedly, and he throws himself down on the sofa.

 

“Daniel, don’t swear!” his mother shouts at him and Dan rolls his eyes at her. “We are going to listen. Darling calm down, sit down and hear them out. Please?”

 

Mr. Smith sits in his chair again and Ella starts to tell the whole story – strategically leaving out the bit where she had drugged Kyle, and that she was instructed to do so by Margaret. Dan had no idea why she was leaving these bits out, but it wasn’t necessary for his parents to know about them.

 

She finishes off with the argument between her and Dan which had led to the overdose she had taken. By the time she had finished the whole room was silent.

 

“So that leads us to now.” Dan takes up the story from her. “ _Someone_ rang the police and said that the photo was of Kyle and a 14 year old,” and his dad makes a low whistling sound. “So, naturally, Kyle has told them who the girl in the photo is and they will be coming to speak to Ella to take a statement and check his story.”

 

He looks at both of his parents once he has finished speaking and they both look completely dumbstruck.

 

“I’m really sorry to have caused all of this trouble, “ Ella says to the silence and Dan’s parent’s just look up at her and nod.

 

“This is a lot to take in,” Mrs. Smith says slowly.

 

Dan looks at his watch and sees it’s close to midnight and he suddenly feels the heaviness in his eyes and stifles a yawn.

 

“Why don’t we go to bed and sleep on all of this?” he says diplomatically to the room. “The police won’t be coming now, but they’ll probably be here in the morning and you’ll want to feel alright to speak to them,” he says to his sister.

 

All agreeing that this was the best strategy, they all head out of the room to get some rest. Dan heads off to the guest room to crawl into the large warm bed there instead of the cabin, but his dad catches him before he can open the door.

 

“Daniel that man isn’t allowed back in this house. And I’m severely disappointed that you haven’t gotten rid of him,” he says to him in a low threatening voice. Dan stares at him and then narrows his eyes as his words register in his brain.

 

“This wasn’t Kyle’s fault, dad,” he replies in an equally low voice. “And if you keep talking about him like that I won’t be back in this house either.”

 

Dan turns away from his father and pushes the bedroom door open before looking back at his dad and shutting the door in his face.

 

\---

Taking a deep breath, he walks over to the bed and falls face first onto the soft mattress. He screams softly into the freshly laundered covers before sitting back up and taking his glasses off.

 

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and facetimes Kyle before he even changes into his sleeping things.

 

He stares at Kyle’s smiling picture and listens to the ringing for a few rings before the screen changes into the real thing. The face on the screen looked creased and flushed and Dan can see that he has woken him up from a deep sleep.

 

“Hi,” he says softly, smiles and waves with his free hand.

 

“Hi gorgeous,” Kyle replies and scrubs at his eyes to try and wake up.

 

“Sorry I woke you up,” he apologises, but Kyle just waves away his apology.

 

“Don’t be, I was on the sofa waiting for you to call, but I think I drank a bit too much and this is the next thing I remember.” Dan laughs softly as he watches Kyle show him the empty bottle of wine and two glasses on their side next to it.

 

“Two glasses?” he asks, suspiciously.

 

“Jools. She left about- ” and there a pause as Kyle clearly looks at the time on the phone screen and tries to calculate minutes in his sleep addled brain. “An hour ago maybe?”

 

Dan watches as Kyle’s eyes go wide and his brow furrows as he tries to pretend he knows what he’s talking about.

 

“How’d the talk go?” Kyle asks, suddenly appearing more awake and sober.

 

“About as well as I expected it to.” Dan replies and Kyle looks back at him.

 

“Really? As bad as that huh?” he asks and Dan nods sagely.

 

“Hopefully it’ll be better in the morning, once it’s all sunk in.”

 

“Is Ella alright?” Kyle asks and Dan is touched at the man’s concern for his little sister after everything she has put him through.

 

“She’s doing really well actually,” Dan says. “Really surprised me with how mature she’s being about all this. Maybe her counselling has helped.”

 

Kyle smiles down the screen at him and Dan’s heart melts watching him relax back into the sofa cushion.

 

“I miss you,” Kyle says after a few minutes of silence with the men just staring at each other. “You’ve been away too much recently,” he adds.

 

“I’ll be back soon, and then I’ll move all my stuff in and you won’t be able to get rid of me,” Dan jokes.

 

“Can’t wait,” Kyle replies and Dan looks directly at him thinking he’s joking, but can only see the seriousness and tiredness in showing in his eyes. “Honestly, babe. I can’t wait.”

 

“Me neither.” Dan confirms sleepily, and they both fall asleep, together only through a phone screen.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray! Laptop has returned home! So in celebration for this and Dan's birthday yesterday, have a super long chapter. 
> 
> Please enjoy!

Chapter Nine

Waking up the following morning, Kyle winces as he tries to sit upright. Falling asleep on his settee had left him with an awful crick in his neck, and he was still in his jeans as well, so he was possibly the most uncomfortable he’d been since he secretly shared a bunk with Dan on their tour bus earlier in the year. The memory of him trying to quietly jump back into his bed without anyone seeing him makes him smirk as he stiffly rolls from the seat and tries to straighten his back.

 

“I am too fucking old to be doing this,” he mutters to himself as he feels and hears the popping coming from his joints.

 

Groaning as he stumbles into his kitchen, he flicks the switch on the kettle and searches through his cupboards for pain killers while the water boils. He pulls out a mug and throws in a teabag, sweetener and spoon and by the time he’s done all that the kettle has boiled and he can make himself something that might wake him up.

 

Making the drink, dry swallowing his pills and then walking back into the living room, he moves to the opposite corner he had slept in on the sofa and curls up with his feet under him while he turns the television on to Netflix and resumes whatever it was he had been watching. He finds his phone wedged between the sofa cushions and it had enough battery on it to let him know he had two messages waiting for him.

 

_Dan – Police rang. They’re gonna be here this afternoon. Love you xxx_

_Jools – ring me when you wake up. need to make plans for tonight._

 

He looks at the time and seeing it’s eleven in the morning he pauses the TV, grabs his cup and wanders into the bedroom where he can charge his phone at the same time as using it. He taps the screen to ring his friend and puts the handset onto speaker so he can move around and do things whilst pretending to listen to her.

 

There are barely two rings before there is a slight click and he can hear her talk to him.

 

“Yep?”

 

“You needed me?” Kyle drawls down the phone at her as he blows on his tea to cool it a bit before he takes a small sip.

 

“Yeah! Hang on I’ll get somewhere quieter,” and he hears rustling, shouts in the background and the sound of a car door opening and closing. “Cool, I’m back.”

 

“Are you in your car?”

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

“Why do you keep that thing in town? It must cost you a fucking fortune.” Kyle says to her for what seems like the millionth time.

 

“Mum and dad pay for it,” she says simply, finally admitting what Kyle had always known. Jools’ parents were pretty loaded considering the professions and type of jobs they had, and as she was an only child she managed to profit from it all.

 

“Well at least you’re admitting it now,” he says to her. “So what are we meant to be doing tonight?”

 

“Whole gang of guys from my year are off and have decided to make a night of it down here. Drinks, food, dancing.”

 

Kyle grimaces at his phone as he takes another drink.

 

“Meh, I don’t know Jools. Tuesday night with dicks from your year at school? Doesn’t sound fun…”

 

“Nuh-uh Simples,” she shouts his high school nickname down the phone and he rolls his eyes at the ceiling. “You are coming. Case closed.”

 

He says nothing in response and she takes that as an affirmative that he will be going out with her.

 

“Good. I’ll be round in half an hour; I need help to decide what to wear.” She declares and the phone goes dead.

 

“Jools?” Kyle says, picking up his handset to see if it was still on. Sighing, he decides to have a shower before the whirlwind of his friend with a clothing crisis arrives.

 

\---

Half an hour later, almost to the second, his door gets a knock and Kyle walks over in joggers and a t-shirt, hair still wet from his shower that he had just gotten out of. Jools sweeps past him with a wheelie bag in one hand and a KFC in the other.

 

Kyle points at the paper bag and she throws it over to him. He opens the bag and pulls out his normal popcorn chicken and sweet chilli sauce and puts the rest of the food on the table for Jools to get to when she’s ready.

 

“Did you really need a trolley bag for tonight?” he asks her as he opens the box of chicken and throws a piece in his mouth, savouring the taste.

 

“Yes, I have to look good. And you my dear as my ‘as close to gay as possible’ best friend have to help me choose.” Kyle looks her with raised eyebrows and wide eyes.

 

“Dude…what?” Kyle looks at her almost speechless. “You’ve known me many years, have I ever show any sort of fashion sense?” Jools looks at him and shrugs as she unwraps her burrito and tucks in.

 

“Whatever, you’ll help.” She says. “You heard from Dan?”

 

“Spoke to him last night and had a text from him this morning saying the police were going round this afternoon. Don’t expect to hear from him again til later now.”

 

Jools nods as she continues to stuff the food in her mouth inelegantly and chewing quickly.

 

“Mate, you don’t have to rush you know,” Kyle admonishes as he watches her.

 

“I do, I have a lot of prep to do!” She says and as she finishes, and gets up to carry her bag into the bedroom. “Right, I have three outfits, we’ll choose one and then I’m going to use your shower.”

 

\---

After an hour they had decided on Jools wearing tight fitting skinny jeans, strappy open toed stilettos and a long black camisole top with black fringe to the knees and muted pink and green flowers embellished on it.

 

She had then headed into the bathroom to have a shower and ‘prepare’ for going out – whatever the hell that meant, Kyle had no idea. While she did that, he made sure his beard was trimmed and put some product in his hair and beard to make it look a bit more special. He chose his favourite blue jeans and threw a long sleeved checked shirt in a number of different blues over a white t-shirt and buttoned it all the way to the top.

 

He walked back into the living room after checking his phone and rifled through the rest of the things in Jools’ bag which had ended up being strewn over most of the lounge. He found what he was looking for and picked up the small make up bag before walking back to the sofa. He unzipped it and rifled through its contents of many different nail varnishes. He pulls two out eventually and compares them before finally deciding on the colour in his left hand.

 

Unscrewing the lid, he starts to carefully paint his nails, starting with his right hand. The winning colour had been a very dark, almost slate grey with glitter interspersed through it. At certain angles it looked almost black. It appealed to his love of all things sparkly and he continued with finishing his left hand.

 

He finishes up just as Jools walks out of his bedroom, fully washed, dressed, hair done and make up on. He wolf-whistles appreciatively whilst blowing on his nails to dry them.

 

“You know that would have made more of an impact if you hadn’t been painting your nails at the same time,” she smirks when she sees him, and he shrugs in return. She walks over to him and takes his hand to look at his nails. “Nice, you should do mine sometime.”

 

\---

Jools ends up driving them to the place they were meeting with everyone. She drives her white Toyota Prius to the pub she had been told to meet at and dropped Kyle outside to go and get drinks while she found a 24-hour parking place to leave her car in.

 

Kyle walks into the pub on the corner and looks around him. He spies a group of about 7 or 8 people who were about Jools’ age and he recognises a couple of them as they hadn’t changed much from high school. They are all at a long table with separate wooden chairs around it. The more Kyle looked at the décor and bar itself, he realises it is not as much a pub as an upmarket wine bar and he sighs as he moves past the table to the bar to order some drinks.

 

“Can I get a Jack Daniels and diet coke and a large Pinot?” he says to the girl behind the bar when she walks over to him. She nods, smiles and busies herself making the drinks he had ordered.

 

“So is Julia Cook coming tonight then?” Kyle overhears from the table nearby.

 

“Yeah, she said she was. God, do you remember what she was like in 6th form? Always had that kid from the 4th following her around wherever she went like a lost puppy?” one of the others say and a few of them giggle at the memory. Kyle snorts as he knows they are talking about him. “Oh here she is!” the voice says and Kyle looks around at the door to see Jools walking towards the group.

 

There are a number of forced ‘hello’s and ‘how are you’s but some genuine ones too as people who were really her friends saw her again. Kyle pays for the drinks when the girl tells him how much they cost and picks his drinks up and walks over to the table, selecting the chair next to Jools and sitting himself in it.

 

“Uh, hi? This is a private party,” one of the girls – Kyle remembers her name is Kirsty – says snidely to him and he realises she was the girl who had been badmouthing him before Jools had made her entrance.

 

Kyle slides the large glass of wine over to Jools and she smiles and kisses him on the cheek in thanks. He then smirks at the woman and cocks an eyebrow, getting a sneer in return.

 

“Guys, you might not remember, but this is Kyle? He was a couple of years below us? He needed a night out so thought he could come alone too?” Jools says to the group as a whole.

 

Kyle couldn’t fault them for not knowing who he was, he looked a lot different than when he had last seen them and now had a full face of beard and moustache. A couple of the people there though did come over and reacquaint themselves.

 

“Hope we won’t be too boring for you Kyle,” one of the men says to him, down his nose. Kyle also recognised this guy. His name was Scott, and he had been the head boy when Jools had been head girl. “Hopefully we won’t lose you when we talk about work and things,” he adds to him, clearly taking from his hipster appearance that he was either unemployed or not in the same league as them.

 

“Oh I think I’ll be fine, thanks anyway Scott.” Kyle replies as politely as he can. He loved it when people never knew what he did, it meant he could spend his evening planning how to piss them all off.

 

Jools and Kyle had been the last to arrive at the bar, so when they had finished their drinks they decided to head over to the restaurant they were going to be eating at. Once they had been shown to their table, Kyle decided to sit at the opposite end of the table to Jools to shake things up a bit. He knew most of them didn’t want to sit with him, so he strategically sat next to one of the people in the group he did actually remember and like, a shy girl called Gemma who had always been nice to the man, even when they were at school. The other side of him sat Scott and Kirsty sat opposite him, and he decided he was going to at least have some fun with them.

 

Throughout the starter and the majority of the first course, Gemma and Kyle had in depth conversations about what the girl was up to with her life now. It turned out she was a primary school teacher and Kyle told her how his brother was also a teacher and they exchanged stories, Kyle giving her examples of what his brother had told him in the past.

 

By the time Kyle had finished his main meal, he looked around and most of the group were still trying to finish up. He looks over at Scott and Kirsty who both looked terrified when they noticed and hoped he wouldn’t engage either of them in conversation.

 

“So! Scott, Kirsty, what are you two doing with your lives now?” Kyle asks conversationally, and notices when their eyes roll realising they couldn’t ignore him now.

 

“Well, I run my own company in nutritional information, and I look after a team of about 30 who test and confirm the nutritional values in a lot of foods,” Scott says slowly, as if Kyle was an idiot and couldn’t understand basic English. Kyle nods and whistles lowly as if he was impressed with the idiot in front of him.

 

“And I’m a doctor now!” Kirsty announces and pauses as if she was expecting congratulations from other people at the table. When none came, she looked around and coughed before continuing, “I’m a dermatologist in the city here. That’s why I thought London would be a good place to meet up, because me and Scott and Jools are here anyways.”

 

Kyle raises his eyebrows at her as if he is also impressed with her pedigree and takes a long drink of the JD he had in front of him. He sees Kirsty notice his painted fingernails and blanch and almost spits his drink out all over her.

 

“Well that all sounds _very_ interesting,” Kyle says to them politely, but before he can say anything else, he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket and he pulls it out to see who’s ringing him. Noticing the caller is Dan, he pushes his seat out from the table. “Oh, _shit_ , sorry guys, please excuse me. I really need to take this.” He gets up and leaves, but not before he can hear Scott and Kirsty complaining about his use of foul language at the table and he chuckles as he swipes to answer the call.

 

“Hi! Everything OK?” He says as he puts the phone to his ear and opens the door to the restaurant to stand outside with the smokers.

 

“Where are you?” comes the sullen reply down the phone.

 

“I’m out for dinner with Jools, why?” he says to Dan, concern and worry tinging his voice.

 

“Are you going to be back late?”

 

“We’re meant to be going dancing, but I can come home?” Kyle offers to him.

 

“No! Don’t come home. I want to dance! Can I come and meet you?” Dan asks and Kyle readily agrees to text him when he knows where they’re going. Saying bye to each other and hanging up, he heads back into the restaurant. Jools looks up at him as he enters, and he must look worried as she mouths to ask if he was OK.

 

Kyle nods and walks over to her corner and crouches next to her.

 

“Dan wants to meet up, is that alright?”

 

“Don’t be stupid that perfect!” she almost shouts and pushes him so hard he almost falls over. They had drunk about the same amount, but Kyle had always managed to hold his alcohol a bit better than she had. “GUYS!” she shouts to the rest of the table as Kyle stands upright again. “Let’s pay and head out to dance!” she exclaims and is met with a round of applause from nearly everyone at the table – notable absences from said applause were, of course, Scott and Kirsty.

 

\---

Managing to pay the bill correctly was a feat and a half, but thankfully, Scott was also an accountant as well as a small business owner and declared that he could easily split the bill for everyone.

 

Kyle managed to wangle the name of the club they were going to out of one of the group and shoots a text off to his boyfriend telling him to meet him there.

 

_Kyle – heading to Cargo now. meet us there xxx_

Kyle and Jools end up walking with Gemma and a girl he hadn’t known at school called Kate. Jools decides she wants to have a chat with Gemma on the walk over so Kyle is left alone with Kate who walks about a foot next to him. When the fresh air hit Kyle, he started to feel a bit more drunk than he had before.

 

“So, I haven’t said anything because I’m assuming you don’t want to talk about it, but why are you letting them treat you like a nobody?” She says to him conspiratorially, and Kyle looks at her, swaying slightly. He scowls at her and frowns. “You’re Kyle, from Bastille right?” she asks him, and he still doesn’t say anything. “I’m a writer for a music magazine, if I didn’t know who you were I’d be pretty crap at my job,” she finally tells him and Kyle’s face relaxes finally.

 

“Oh, that’s nothing.” He tells her, waving off the woman’s concerns. “It’s more fun thish way.” He slurs without realising it and Kate chuckles at him.

 

They arrive at the old railway arches that house the club they are heading to. As it is a Tuesday, there is no queue and the group easily make their way inside to the large industrial space. They immediately go to the bar, and Jools has ordered test tube shots for everyone in the group. They down the bright blue and green liquid quickly and Kyle immediately orders another round for himself and Jools.

 

The bright strobe lighting and loud music makes it difficult to do any kind of talking, but as soon as the familiar tinkling music starts on the speakers, Kyle stills and looks at the tube in his hand and groans very loudly. Jools looks at him confused.

 

_“Rhythm is a dancer, it’s a soul’s companion…”_

 

“What?” she shouts at him, and Kyle looks at her unimpressed and just points at the speakers.

 

“It’s one of his!” Kate supplies helpfully for him in a loud voice as she sips her drink through a thin red straw, and Kyle shrugs, nods and points at Kate in agreement. Standing nearby and hearing this, Scott and Kirsty look at him intrigued, and suddenly more into knowing a bit more.

 

Kyle calls for another shot quickly. As he waits he feels arms wrap around his waist and hands clasp at his stomach, and then feels warm breath in his ear. He looks round to see what’s going on just as his shot arrives, and he sees the smiling face of Dan looking back at him and stealing his shot.

 

“Oi!” Kyle shouts at him, and Dan just kisses him hard on the mouth, sharing the aftertaste of the alcohol with him. “Better,” Kyle concedes after a beat.

 

Dan starts to pull him away from the bar and towards the second room being used as a dancefloor, a cheeky grin on his face, and biting his lower lip seductively. Kyle huffs, knowing that Dan was determined to get him to dance to this track specifically and follows him through the archway.

 

Getting into the throng of dancers on the dancefloor, Dan and Kyle are pushed intimately together, a fact neither man is upset about. They both knew the beat, rhythm and intricacies of this song personally and they were able to move as one to each minor beat. Anyone else watching them would have thought they were listening to a completely different song, but they were both dancing to the parts they did most when performing live, and when it gets to the chorus they are both jumping the way they do on stage.

 

By the end when it comes to the drum section, they’re both having too much fun jumping that they just end up stamping out their drum rhythms with their feet, much to the joy of the dancers around them – many of which had realised who they were halfway through the song.

 

As the song ends and seamlessly moves onto the Shakira and Rihanna duet, the boys head back to the bar to get another drink. Dan orders and pays for a couple of beers and two shots of tequila and hands one of each to his lover who just looks at him strangely.

 

“Babe are you OK?” Kyle asks him seriously.

 

“Ky, I’m fine! Drink, let’s dance,” he moves over to him and whispers in his ear, “let’s fuck all night,” and he nips at his earlobe, making the other man whine quietly.

 

“Um, hi, excuse me,” comes a voice from behind Kyle and he looks around, turning into Dan who possessively holds his arms around him. Kirsty is standing behind him now trying to look all polite and kind. “I’m a big fan of yours,” she says and tries to look around Kyle to see Dan. Kyle snorts loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear even over the music.

 

He leans over and whispers a brief rundown of how she’s been to him all evening and Dan’s eyes narrow as he downs his tequila in one shot.

 

“Really…?” and he trails off looking for her to say her name.

 

“Kirsty,” the woman tells him quickly, and he repeats it back to her.

 

“What’s my name?” Dan asks her finally, extremely cheekily and raises one eyebrow at her inquisitively.

 

“Pardon me?” she says to him, not quite sure if she’s heard him correctly.

 

“My name? I’m having a blank,” he says apologetically and continues to look at her, waiting for a reply.

 

Kirsty stares at him blankly. “Dan?” she asks him instead of telling him, clearly worried she was going to get it wrong.

 

“Dan!” he says and snaps his fingers as if it’s just come back to him. “What’s my last name again?” he carries on with the charade, clearly wanting to embarrass the woman.

 

“Oh for fucks sake, fine! I like one song!” she admits and storms off back to where Scott is waiting for her. Kyle and Dan both watch her go and then burst into giggles once she’s gone.

 

“Mr Sarcastic! What have you done with my boyfriend?” Kyle says looking intently at him, still smiling.

 

“You had to rub off on me one of these days,” Dan replies, and downs nearly his whole beer in one. He sticks his hand up to the bartender and orders another beer for himself and Kyle.

 

“Right, are we dancing or what?” He suddenly declares and the drink comes back and he drains his first one.

 

Kyle lets him drag him back onto the dancefloor, happy for the closeness and fun they were going to have, but he couldn’t help a small voice in the back of his head telling him something was very wrong.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed.   
> So the camisole top - https://www.riverisland.com/p/black-burnout-floral-fringe-hem-cami-top-703578  
> And the song which is Rihanna and Shakira - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3mP3mJDL2k
> 
> xx


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The music was loud, the lights were bright and the beer was – relatively speaking – cold. Dan was able to forget about everything that had happened that day in the pounding bass line and soft embrace of his lover. The moment he caught himself thinking about his situation, he pulls Kyle closer and loses himself in the warmth and love he finds there.

 

The dance remix of ‘Dancing on My Own’ starts playing, and he spies Kyle trying to take off the dancefloor. He moves as close to him as possible and slides his fingers through his belt loops to drag him back to him. He automatically feels him relent and move backwards into him, and they sway to the beat – hips and groins grinding with the rhythm. Kyle eventually turns in his hold and faces him, concern showing in his eyes. He moves in closer to Dan and Dan’s hands automatically transition to Kyle’s lower back and his thumbs start to lightly massage in a circular motion at the curve of his buttocks.

 

“What’s wrong?” Kyle says loudly into Dan’s ear so he can hear him over the volume of the music.

 

“Nothing!” Dan smiles and yells back at him. “I just want to be close to you! Why is that such a bad thing?”

 

Kyle leans back to look in his eyes, disbelieving the words he hears, and Dan reaches forward and nips at his lower lip twice before kissing his boyfriend’s pliant lips slowly. He leads them both in a dirty and passionate embrace, full of promise. Dan’s silky tongue slips easily between Kyle’s lips and starts to tease at the younger mans, slowly circling it and retreating quickly – giving some but not quite enough.

 

He pulls back and looks at Kyle’s face. Kyle’s still standing with his eyes closed and his lips have swollen beautifully in Dan’s opinion, and he can’t resist reaching up and giving him one last chaste kiss. Kyle opens his eyes finally and frowns back at him.

 

“I know you did that to distract me,” he shouts, and Dan does nothing but wink. He looks around and notices Jools moving with a small group outside and he decides to go and join them.

 

“C’mon!” he shouts and pulls Kyle by the hand to follow the group outside.

 

“You’re giving me whiplash man!” Kyle shouts, but runs after him anyway.

 

They make it outside to the beer garden area. It’s at the front of the club and there is fake grass on the ground and a small shed that has been erected that sells a small selection of drinks. The tables and chairs are all wooden and have parasols through the middle – obviously to shade from the sun in the summer and now it’s turning colder, protect from unforeseen rain.

 

Jools and the group are at a large round table in the corner near an outside heater, and they are all starting to light up cigarettes and relax together. They walk over to them and find one empty seat. Dan pushes Kyle down into it, and giggles at the astonished and put out look he gives him, before climbing onto his lap. Kyle relaxes quickly and wraps his arms around him and he ducks his head so its tucked under the younger man’s chin.

 

“You know you two are fucking disgusting together don’t you?” Jools says to them jokingly and hands a packet of Marlborough’s over to Kyle who just waves them away. “Huh?” she looks at him disbelievingly.

 

“I’m quitting,” he says loudly and proudly, his ears not quite used to the lack of loud noise outside.

 

“Since when?” Jools shouts back at him.

 

“It’s been a month now,” he says and Dan looks up at him, smiles and presses a loud kiss on the side of his face.

 

“I _love_ you!” Dan shouts at him.

 

“I love _you_!” Kyle shouts back at him and they grin at each other again.

 

“Oh, God!” Jools groans. “Guys, for those of you who haven’t met him yet, this is Dan. Dan, even though you look more pissed than Kyle does and you won’t remember, this is everyone – Kirsty, Kate, Gemma. Oh and this is Scott.” She adds as the tall annoying man walks over to them and drags a chair to join them. Dan waves to each of them, but Jools is right and he can’t keep any names in his head.

 

“Oh,” the man says when he sees Dan and Kyle entwined on the same seat. “um, I thought you and Jools were together,” he says to Kyle and Kyle snorts loudly in Dan’s ear, earning an annoyed look from the singer.

 

“Nope!” both he and Jools say at the same time. “Absolutely not!” Kyle adds emphatically and Jools looks at him, and Dan thinks he sees a little bit of hurt in her eyes.

 

“I’m a one man, man…” he says slowly, unsure whether he has said it right, and then, just to make sure he adds, “man.” He frowns trying to understand his own sentence.

 

“Oh,” Scott says again, clearly uncomfortable with the affection being displayed between the men.

 

“Does that make you uncomfortable…?”

 

“Scott,” Kyle supplies helpfully, and earns himself another kiss. He smiles widely to no one in particular.

 

“Does that make you uncomfortable, Scott?” Dan tries again and waggles his eyebrows at the man.

 

“No, not at all,” Scott tries to counter quickly.

 

“Good!” Dan shouts. “And you can’t have him you know,” he points over at Kirsty, who looks back at him completely astounded.

 

“Babe, I don’t think she wants me,” Kyle says to him matter of factly.

 

“I’m just telling her,” Dan looks up at Kyle and talks slowly as if he’s explaining to a child.

 

“OK,” Kyle agrees readily. “You’re cute, y’know.” He says after thinking about it for a minute, and Dan grins at him again, and kisses him on his nose.

 

“OK, that’s it!” Jools announces. “You two have to go home now!”

 

The two men look at her confused.

 

“Who’s closer to here, Will or Woody?” she asks them, pulling out her phone. When she gets nothing but more confusion back, she sighs. “I’m not giving up on my night out to babysit you two weirdos, so I’ll text them to get you home.”

 

“You suck as a PA!” Dan exclaims to her, “you’re fired!” He stops and thinks about it for a second. “Nah, you’re not fired Jools. You’re too finny.”

 

“You mean funny,” Kyle says to him, while looking at the fake grass, trying to decide whether he needs to put it in his bedroom as a new carpet.

 

“Yes! That!” Dan says to him, and starts to stare down at the grass to see what Kyle is looking at.

 

“Fired?” Kate says to Jools, confused.

 

“Yeah, I kinda work for them,” she says distractedly as she swipes through the screens to find the number she’s looking for. She puts the phone up to her ear and waits for the answer on the other end. “Hi, I’m looking for Will?” they can all here her say and there’s silence while she clearly waits for him to come to the phone.

 

Kyle looks at Dan and then back down at the grass. “Do you think that would make good carpet?” he says to him, and Dan looks back at the grass, clearly taking the question seriously and considering his answer.

 

“Will, it’s Jools, look I’m out with Kyle and Dan and they need to get home…I’ve got to stay out, so I can’t really…Shoreditch…” she then looks over at the two of them, who have now gotten off of the chair and are kneeling on the ground to see how soft the artificial grass is. “Well, they’re currently discussing how to redecorate with AstroTurf…Cool, I’ll see you soon then…Cargo…we’re in the garden.” And she hangs up the phone.

 

\---

 

Will turns up about half an hour later, looking for all intents and purposes like the angry dad coming to pick up his drunk teenage sons. He’s clearly just thrown a hoody on and some jeans and wandered out into the night to respond to Jools’ bat signal.

 

He walks over to the table and just looks at the lovers disappointingly. They had made it back up into their chair and at that moment arguing about the best way to clean an AstroTurf carpet – Dan wanted a Dyson and Kyle thought they would need some sort of fluffing machine he had seen used once.

 

“Guys,” he just says, sullenly and waits for them to look at him.

 

“Will!” Dan shouts, his face lighting up when he sees him, and he climbs off of Kyle’s lap and embraces his friend. “I love you too Will! I don’t like fighting. Can we not fight anymore?” he asks him, suddenly serious and puts both hands on either side of his face and looks up at him with the large blue puppy dog eyes.

 

“Alright Dan, we’ll not fight,” he agrees, quickly pulling away from the drunk and looking over at Kyle. “Are you getting up any time soon?”

 

Kyle looks at him suspiciously and narrows his eyes. He gets up out of the chair, admittedly slowly, and looking quite unsteady, and walks up to Will.

 

“I love you…but he’s mine…” he says to him, and Will looks over at Dan who is smiling giddily at the whole situation and grasping Kyle’s hand.

 

“Oh God,” mutters Will to himself, and he’s reminded of that night a few months previously in Cornwall. “Right Romeo and Romeo, let’s get you two home. Thanks for calling Jools,” he shouts over to the girl, and she waves in response. Will makes a mental note to teach her how to deal with the two of them when she was more sober.

 

He walks under the archway that enters the garden and looks behind him, expecting to see the men following him. Much to his dismay they had gotten distracted by each other and were currently leaning against the pillar holding the wrought iron sign up kissing like teenagers.

 

He storms back over to them, and drags Kyle off of Dan, earning an annoyed sound from the singer.

 

“Guys, seriously, I was in bed and now I’m here. Do you know how pissed off Awuoi is with me right now?” he chastises and the two look forlorn and stare down at the ground.

 

“Sorry Will,” Dan says quickly.

 

“Yeah, sorry Will,” Kyle repeats. They both stay silent for a moment while Will goes to hail a taxi. When he returns Kyle just looks at him. “But seriously? Look how cute!” he says and holds Dan’s chin out for Will to look at.

 

Will makes a loud groaning noise and drags both hands down his face in frustration.

 

\---

All three men stumble up the stairs to get to Kyle’s front door. Once they get there they all stare at it, unsure what to do next. Will looked at them both expecting them to do something like unlock it, but the two of them were obviously anticipating it to open by telepathy or something as neither moved.

 

“Kyle,” Will finally says, and he turns round and looks at him with wide eyes. “Keys.”

 

“Genius,” Kyle says to him and pats his pockets to see if his keys were there.

 

“I’ll get them,” Dan announces, and starts to put his hands into Kyle’s jeans to search for the keys. Suddenly there is a deep moan from Kyle, and Will looks up to see Dan smirking at him whilst rifling through his pocket.

 

“DAN!” Will shouts, and scares him into pulling his hand out with the keys in his grip.

 

Looking ashamed, Dan finally unlocks the door and the men walk inside. Will decides not to follow them.

 

“I’ll ring in the morning,” he says to them, and walks quickly away from them and exits the building as fast as he can.

 

Giggling like teenagers, the men shut the door and fumble their way through the dark to the bedroom. There is a clunking sound and a loud “OW!” as one of them walks into the door frame instead of through it and the other starts to laugh even louder.

 

Reaching the bed, they both look at each other and then look back at the bed.

 

“I’m so tired…” Dan says pathetically.

 

“Me too,” Kyle replies.

 

Kyle gets closer to Dan, and pulls his sweater over his head, along with his t-shirt that he had been wearing all night. He throws the clothes into a pile in the corner of the room as Dan starts to unbutton Kyle’s shirt for him. He drags it off of his shoulders, takes his undershirt off and these too join the pile of dirty clothes.

 

Both men kick off their shoes and pull their own jeans off before crawling up the bed and relaxing onto the pillows. Kyle pulls the older man in towards him and kisses him softly on the back of his shoulder before sleepily telling him goodnight. Dan hears the soft snores of the keyboard player behind him as he quickly lets sleep take him.

 

Dan, though, despite drinking a lot and trying to get as drunk as he could, still couldn’t get the look on his father’s face out of his mind as he walked out of his family home for what he declared was the last time. He lay awake for hours after Kyle had drifted off and thought of nothing but how he had disowned his parents.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dancing on my Own (dance remix) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCIPC17-O6g
> 
> Comments and kudos at your own discretion xx


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just be aware this does jump back in time - just in case it is confusing for anyone
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Chapter Eleven

_One Day Earlier_

 

Dan woke up and felt very disorientated. He looked around the small guest bedroom and remembered that he had come home to speak to his family about the police involvement and Kyle. He groans loudly to himself with the memory of the way his parents had reacted, and really wished he was able to turn over and go back to sleep.

 

The curtains hadn’t been closed the previous night, so the late summer – early autumn sunshine was spilling through the window and shining right into his eyes. He finds his phone under his pillow and checks the time, before realising the battery was down to 4% and was about to die on him. He rolls over to the side of the bed he had thrown his back pack and digs around in it until his finds his electric blue travel charger and plugs it in.

 

He checks the time and seeing it’s still the morning, he throws it back down onto the bed and pulls his t-shirt off and throws it on his bag. Having slept in his clothes he now needs a shower, so he walks out of the room and down towards the airing cupboard to grab a towel and heads back into the bathroom. Turning the shower on and leaving it to get up to temperature, he strips out of the rest of his clothes and climbs over the side of the bath into the waterfall shower.

 

He takes his time in the shower, trying to prolong the inevitable visit and resulting argument. He waits until the hot water runs out – if they were going to blame him for this, better give them something else to complain about – and then climbs back out and after towelling his hair as dry as it will go, wraps it around his waist and picks up his clothes before heading back to his room to get dressed.

 

“Oh God, that’s not something I want to see in the morning DC,” Ella cries as she sees him. “Nice towel though bro,” she adds cheekily, pointing at the baby pink towel he was sporting, and she screams as he flicks his wet hair towards her and slips back into the bedroom.

 

He pulls a fresh plain black t-shirt out of his bag and throws it over his head before adding his boxers and then pulls his jeans back on to finish his signature all black look. He drags his fingers through his hair and lets the longer pieces sit limply and tousled over his forehead and crown, not caring that it wasn’t styled.

 

Down the hall he can hear the old fashioned ring tone of the landline and he waits in silence to see what happens next. He hears nothing for a couple of minutes and then he hears his dad bellowing loudly from the direction of the kitchen.

 

“ELLA! DANIEL! KITCHEN PLEASE!”

 

Dan picks his phone and charger up from the bed and walks sedately and as calmly as he can down to the kitchen to face his parents. His mum and Dad are both leaning against the work surfaces, holding large cups which Dan knows contain black coffee – their normal morning pick me up. He walks over to the coffee maker and picks his ancient ‘Daniel’ mug out of the cupboard and pours himself a cup before adding sugar and milk and starts to sip it carefully.

 

Ella walks in slowly, hair also wet and scowls at her brother before walking over to pick up a cup of tea their mum had prepared for her already.

 

“Thanks Dan for the freezing cold shower -” She starts to say to him sarcastically and Mr Smith cuts her off by making the clicking noise with his tongue and throat that makes both children know they were to shut up and listen to him. Ella obediently looks up at him, while Dan continues to sip at his caffeine and yawning.

 

“That was the police. They’ve said they will be here at midday,” Dan looks at his watch and sees it’s close to 11am, meaning he had just over an hour before his sister was to be interrogated.

 

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and disconnects it from the charger before opening a new message quickly.

 

_Dan – Police rang. They’re gonna be here this afternoon. Love you xxx_

 

He clicks the screen off and slides it back in his pocket.

 

“Who were you texting?” his dad asks him suspiciously, and Dan rolls his eyes and drinks more coffee.

 

“Don’t start,” Mrs Smith starts and puts her hand on his elbow, but her husband just shrugs her off and asks again.

 

“Daniel who was that?”

 

“I was keeping Ky updated alright?” he says exasperatedly.

 

“Oh for God’s sake, son. Do you have to constantly be in touch all the time?”

 

“As he’s my partner and I love him, Dad, yes, yes I do!” Dan replies irritated with his father’s sudden mistrust of Kyle. “I’m going out for a walk!” he announces and storms back to his bedroom to slide his shoes on, before slamming the open front door shut behind him.

 

\---

Dan spends a long time wandering around the fields and wooded areas near his parent’s house before making his way back up to the main area and unlocking the door of his studio. He looks around at the tidiness of it and realises that he has to move all of this stuff up to London because he wasn’t around the country as much as he used to be. He quickly tries to calculate in his head how many boxes he would need to pack everything up and then hears the sound of an engine in the driveway.

 

Walking out of his studio, he walks over to the driveway and notices a silver Vauxhall Astra parking up. Both front doors open and he recognises the two women from the police station the previous day as they get out and straighten up their clothes after the journey from the city.

 

Dan takes a deep breath and strides over to them purposefully.

 

“Detectives, hi,” he says as he approaches them and they look round at him surprised.

 

“Mr Smith, isn’t it?” the older woman says to him, and Dan nods and holds his hand to shake hands. “I’m surprised to see you here,” she continues.

 

“I don’t know why,” Dan replies politely. “It is my family after all.” The woman looks at him suspiciously and nods slowly. “Well, please come in,” he says and walks towards the front door where he can see his parents are huddled, waiting for the officers.

 

They all congregate in the living room and Mrs Smith collects a tray of tea and coffee she had prepared from the kitchen and puts it on the table in front of everyone. She makes everyone a hot drink before settling down in her own chair and looking at the women expectantly. The detectives introduce themselves and give a brief rundown of why they were visiting.

 

“So, Ella,” DC Franks finally addresses the teenager directly, “we need to know that you aren’t under arrest, and we aren’t cautioning you with anything. All we need to know is your side of the story alright?” and the younger woman gives a small smile to the girl, who nods in return.

 

“So, we’ve seen the photo and I just wanted you to give me a bit more information about it, like how it came to be taken and why,” DS Young asks her.

 

“OK, well…it was my sixteenth birthday party, and there was some alcohol there for the older guests like Dan and his friends,” Ella says and looks at Dan when she says it. Dan studiously looks away from her, trying not look like he is trying to influence anything. “I had a bit to drink too because it was there, but I could tell that Ky – sorry, Kyle – was a bit more drunk than he should have been, so I took him downstairs and put him in bed. I undressed him, but he was passed out by this point. I had a bit of a crush on Kyle, but he wasn’t responding so I thought I would make it look like we had done something and it might change his mind, so I got naked too and took a selfie.” By this point, the girls’ entire face had started to shine beetroot and she was clearly uncomfortable talking about it in front of everyone.

 

“So can I just check, you’re saying nothing happened between yourself and Mr Simmons?” DS Young asks her, and Ella just nods. “And it never has done?” Ella nods again. “And this was on your sixteenth birthday?”

 

“Yes, I was definitely sixteen when it happened.” She says firmly.

 

“And is this the photo that you took?” DC Franks asks finally and shows the photo to Ella. Before she had the chance to hide it from her parents, both of them saw the picture and they both gasped. Dan noticed that his mother’s eyes were glistening with unspent tears. Ella just nods and looks to the ground.

 

“Well, I suppose that will be everything then,” the older woman says, finishing her cup of tea and placing the cup back on the tray. “Thank you Ella, and Mr and Mrs Smith for letting us come and have this chat. Oh, and Dan,” the woman says and looks at the singer, “we will be in touch with Kyle soon to let him know what happens next.”

 

“Thanks so much,” he says to them, having no idea what else to say. He watches his father stand to show the women out of the house. There’s silence while he does it and Dan reaches forward to put his own cup on the table. “You alright titch?” he asks finally, looking over at his sister.

 

She is prevented from answering by the slamming of the living room door and everyone looks up to see a very large, very red and very angry South African looking directly at Dan.

 

“Don’t you DARE talk to her like you give a damn about how she’s feeling!” he shouts at his son.

 

“What?” Dan exclaims, voice almost squeaking. “I do care about how she is! Why wouldn’t I care?!”

 

“Dad, stop it, Dan does care –“

 

“No, Ella! Don’t you get involved! If he cared he wouldn’t have hidden this from us. Dan we had the right to know about all of this!”

 

“Darling, please settle down a bit –“

 

“NO! Everyone stop telling me to settle down! I have the right to be angry when I see my little girl completely naked in bed with my son’s supposed GAY boyfriend!”

 

“NOTHING HAPPENED!” Dan explodes at his father. “FOR FUCK SAKE! NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENED! HE WAS FUCKING DRUGGED! DOES NO ONE CARE ABOUT THAT?” he continues, completely astounding everyone in the room. He has never spoken to his parents this way, and they were blown away.

 

“Daniel!” his mother screams at him, “calm down! I won’t have you shouting like that!”

 

“Now look what you’ve done,” his father sneers at him. “You’ve upset your mother now.”

 

Dan growls loudly, and thrown himself back into his chair, which he had jumped out of when he had started to shout.

 

“He may have been drugged, but he had obviously been leading your sister on for her to believe that he would be alright with this. She wouldn’t have gotten this idea form nowhere.” His dad continues on. “Maybe he doesn’t like you nearly as much as you like him Daniel, have you thought of that?”

 

“What?” Dan asks, now completely confused as he looks at his father.

 

“Well, he’s had a girlfriend before hasn’t he? Maybe this is a phase for him?” Mrs Smith chimes in as calmly as she can from her corner seat. Dan looks round directly at her.

 

“What? Where has this come from?” he looks from one parent to the other and can see them talking with their eyes, trying to decide how best to handle the current situation.

 

“Actually, no!” he decides before they can say anything else. “I don’t want to hear it! I’ve known Kyle for seven years, he’s my best friend and I love him! And you were _happy_ when we told you about us! What’s changed since then, apart from this?” he demands from his parents.

 

“Well, Daniel,” his mother starts.

 

“It’s a bit sudden for us.” His father finishes off. “We’ve been talking to a few friends and they all agreed that they hadn’t even thought of you as gay or bisexual and it has been a bit of a shock for us. That and we’ve heard some rumours of our own –“

 

“What rumours?” Dan demands, and his mother looks embarrassed and shocked, as if she hadn’t expected Dan to ask that question. “WHAT RUMOURS?” Dan demands again, but louder.

 

“We’ve heard that Kyle is a bad influence on you and that he has been propositioning other women and even at Ella’s school he was doing it.” His Dad tells him matter of factly.

 

Dan stops pacing, something he hadn’t even realised he had started doing until he stops doing it. He stares directly at his father.

 

“Who said that?” he asks, his voice eerily calm. His father starts to stutter, not wanting to answer the question. Dan looks at his mother who just looks away and then he looks at Ella, who is also looking at their father questioningly.

 

“ _WHO SAID THAT_?” Dan screams, his face redder than his father’s when he had slammed the door.

 

“A concerned parent,” his father then says very diplomatically. Dan starts to laugh manically.

 

“Yeah, I bet I can guess which fucking _concerned_ parent it was too,” he mutters to himself and starts pacing from wall to wall again.

 

“Daniel, will you please stop swearing!” his mother admonishes again, and suddenly there is a loud crash as a cup sails across the room in front of her and smashes into little pieces as it hits one of the exposed brickwork walls.

 

“NO I WON’T STOP FUCKING SWEARING! YOU’RE ESSENTIALLY CALLING MY PARTNER – THE MAN I AM MOVING IN WITH BY THE WAY – A PAEDOPHILE AND A RAPIST!” Dan shouts as loudly as he can at his parents.

 

“Well if the shoe fits…” Dan suddenly hears his father mutter from behind him.

 

Dan stills when he hears it. He looks directly at his father, who seems a bit shocked that he had heard it at all, and looks away from him.

 

“Fuck you all.” Dan says quietly and calmly. He strides purposefully out of the living room and up towards the guest bedroom. He flings all of his clothes into his bag, takes one last look around the room to make sure he has everything. He pats his pockets to make sure he has his keys in them and he walks back towards the front door with his bag flung on his back.

 

“Daniel, please Daniel, where are you going?” he sees his mother rushing out of the living room to see what he’s doing. Ella is behind her, eyes red and wet from tears that were still falling.

 

“I’m out of here. You don’t accept that I know what I’m doing and who I trust, I don’t want to be part of this anymore. Screw you both,” he glances at his sister whose tears are falling faster now. Behind her he can see his father sitting in one of the armchairs, trying to ignore the situation. “Ella text me yeah?” he says to his sister, and he opens the front door and walks out towards his car.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So just want to say thanks again for keeping with me. I know its been a long haul. In my head it's growing arms and legs! So hopefully no one is too bored yet. 
> 
> Thanks again everyone!
> 
> xx


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of a lighter chapter today, after the heaviness of previous ones 
> 
> Please enjoy x

Chapter Twelve

Kyle is jerked awake by the sound of his mobile buzzing in his ear. He has no idea what time it is, but is certain it’s not his usual wake up time. He opens his eyes, rubs them quickly and presses the accept button to answer the call.

 

“’Myello?” he rasps out. His tongue feels like sandpaper, his head is pounding and his eyes still feel gritty even though he had rubbed them.

 

“Is that Mr Simmons?” comes a female voice on the other end of the phone.

 

“Who’s asking?” Kyle replies suspiciously, expecting it to be someone offering a refund on his PPI or telling him he’d been in a car crash and wanting to get him compensation.

 

“It’s DS Young from the Metropolitan Police,” the woman says down the phone to him, and Kyle immediately sits up straighter and tries to look more presentable even though he knows she can’t see him.

 

“Oh, hi! I mean hello, this is Kyle,” he stutters quickly, stumbling over the words.

 

“Good morning, I hope I didn’t wake you,” the woman starts off. “I was just calling to let you know that we are not taking the accusation against you any further. All of our investigation has led to it clearly being a hoax, so we will not be in touch again.”

 

“Thank you, thanks so much,” Kyle gushes down the phone at the woman. They exchange a few more pleasantries before they both hang up the phone. Kyle exhales a huge breath before looking around the room.

 

There’s no one in the bed next to him, and he knows he was drunk the previous night, but he hadn’t imagined coming home with Dan. He pats the bed just to make sure he hasn’t hidden there and looks around the room again.

 

“Dan?” he shouts loudly, knowing he can be heard throughout the flat at that level. He gets no response, so he falls out of bed and wanders out into the main living area in nothing but his boxers.

 

As he moves into the kitchen, he sees there is a half brewed pot of coffee in his ancient coffee maker and a note underneath the sugar.

 

_Ky,_

_Woke up early. In the studio. I fed the cats_

_D xx_

He laughs at the little note, wondering why on earth he hadn’t just texted him, but he goes back into the bedroom to dress and decides to head down and meet him there. At least it would explain why he didn’t have two little fur balls under his feet.

 

\---

Bounding up the stairs with more energy than he should have had after drinking the amount he had the night before and it still being the morning, Kyle makes it to the studio within the hour. He flings the door open excitedly and expects to see Dan sitting in the booth with his laptop open and a keyboard out trying to create magic.

 

Instead as he opens the door all he sees is piles of papers around the instruments, which made the studio look more like an accountant’s office than somewhere to play music. Dan and Jools are huddled in the corner next to the piano and one of Woody’s drums, using them both as a table and chatting with their heads close together.

 

“Sheesh, this looks like hell…” Kyle says loudly and two pairs of eyes look blankly up at him from behind two sets of glasses. “…and you both look like geeks,” he finishes.

 

Dan looks back down at the papers he was studying before saying something to Jools. Kyle takes the minute to look at him and sees he is exhausted. His face is drawn. He has dark brown circles under his eyes and he clearly hasn’t shaved for a few days. He’s huddled in one of Kyle’s oversized hoodies and his hair has been left to do whatever it wants.

 

“What are you guys doing?” he asks and walks over to the corner to join them. He can’t see any seats without papers on them, so he gracefully folds himself to the floor, brings his knees to his chest and hugs them tight.

 

“Making a spreadsheet of all the people Jools will ever have to contact. We’ve been here about two hours, and we’ve gone through suppliers, crew, festival management companies…”

 

“All the exciting people then,” Kyle interrupts, bored already just listening to the list.

 

“Mmm,” Dan replies, clearly distracted. He spies Kyle looking at a pile of papers that he clearly needed and reaches down to take them from him.

 

“Here we go,” he says looking back at Jools again, “here’s Coop’s lot.” And he hands over the list of names and numbers to her for her to add to her pile.

 

“And Coop is…?” she says and looks at him expectantly.

 

“Sound guy,” Kyle tells her helpfully, picking up more papers to look at.

 

“Are you just going to make a mess of my piles?” Dan asks frustrated with him, and snatching the papers away again.

 

“I came to tell you something and to celebrate, but I didn’t think you would be busy.” Kyle says to him, a bit annoyed with the way he was being spoken to. “Surprised you got her here so early though,” he points to Jools as he says it.

 

“He’s my boss, he calls I come running,” she says and smiles at Dan who was still flipping through sheets of paper looking for something and ignoring the chat going on around him.

 

“Sorry Kyle, don’t have a lot of time free right now,” Dan tells him.

 

Jools looks at the way Kyle’s face falls and he goes back to hugging his legs again, burying his face in his knees so no one can see how upset he was. Her eyes flick up at the singer, who is oblivious to the situation.

 

“Well, surely we can take a break from this?” She says to him. “I mean we’ve been hectic since we got here, why don’t we go and get coffee or something?” She says to Dan, somewhat forcefully and when he glances up at her she purposefully nods towards her friend.

 

“Oh! Oh, right,” Dan says, realising that he had missed something. “Yeah, coffee! Let’s go, my treat.”

 

Kyle raises his head and smiles up at Dan. “You sure you’ve got time?” he asks him, and Dan looks back down at him. He observes how the black beanie he was wearing had been pushed up by his knees and was showing a few strands of loose hair under the headband.

 

“Yes, doofus, I’ve got time,” he confirms and bends forward to drop a kiss on his forehead and straighten up the hat, before standing up straight and stretching out. Jools gets up too and makes a squealing sound as she stretches her arms and both the men look at her with a strange look.

 

“Awesome,” Dan says with a smirk. “That’s clearly the intro to a new track,” and Kyle snorts as he stands up and then grunts as he almost falls into the piano.

 

“That’s Karma,” she says to him as he stands upright again, and she’s met with Kyle’s perfectly polished middle finger.

 

\---

They arrive at a small independent café at the end of the street and find themselves a small corner table before Dan goes and orders their drinks at the counter. He gets Kyle and his regular coffee’s and gets Jools a skinny latte. He orders a couple of croissants and taps his phone to pay.  

 

Walking back to the table to wait for the drinks, he slides into the bench seat next to his boyfriend and wraps his arm around his waist to pull him closer. He tucks his hand into Kyle’s jeans pocket for comfort.

 

“So, you mentioned something about news?” Dan says to him and looks up into his russet eyes.

 

“Oh, yeah, I had a phone call this morning from the police,” he tells the two of them.

 

“And?” Jools asks excitedly. “What did they say?”

 

“I’m in the clear,” he tells them, a small smile creeping over his face. “They’ve dropped it! Whatever your parents and Ella said to them must have worked!” he says to Dan excitedly and looks at him with a bigger grin.

 

Dan just looks at him, and doesn’t say anything for a moment. Their drinks and pastries are brought to them and this gives him a good excuse to remain silent. After the barista moves away from the table, Kyle looks back at him, a bit more worried.

 

“Baby are you ok?” he asks him quietly.

 

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, I’m fine. I don’t think mum and dad did anything to be honest. It was all Ella. She was amazing. I was so proud,” he adds, and smiles to his partner. “I’m so happy Ky.” And he pulls Kyle’s face in towards him to place a soft kiss on the lips to try and convince him.

 

\---

They spend the next hour drinking and chatting about what Jools is going to be doing and how she can help them. She claims her main focus is to raise their profile again after them going under the radar at the end of the festival season.

 

“Well, we pushed back the release of a track because of everything that happened, so we can probably start slating that again,” Dan says to her and she snaps her fingers at him in agreement and takes her phone out to make a note.

 

“Why don’t you guys go and talk about all this back in the studio?” Kyle suggests. “I’ve got to go anyway, got an appointment in town in an hour,” and Dan looks at him concerned.

 

“What appointment?”

 

“Routine, don’t worry,” is all he gets in reply and then he starts to move out from the table to head off. “I’ll see you tonight?” he asks Dan and the singer nods in reply.

 

Dan watches his boyfriend’s lean frame walk toward the door and then sees him glance back, smile and wink at him before sauntering out of the door. Dan gives him a huge smile in return and ducks his head slightly in embarrassment.

 

He picks up his cup again and drains the last of the now tepid liquid in the bottom, before then picking up Kyle’s mug, noticing he had left most of the coffee. He takes a gulp of it before looking up at Jools.

 

“You really love him don’t you?” Jools says to him suddenly very serious.

 

“Oh, God is this the ‘if you hurt him, I’ll bury you’ talk?” Dan asks with a small smile, only partly joking. Jools returns the smile to him.

 

“No, not really,” she says. “It’s just his family aren’t the most supportive people, and he doesn’t really have anyone else to look out for him. I’m just glad he has someone he can turn to and who loves him for him.”

 

“Well don’t worry,” Dan tells her, suddenly very serious. “I’ve been in love with Kyle probably from day one. He’s it for me.” Dan sees a wistful look in her eyes as he stares at her. “You love him too, don’t you? And not just in a friends’ way.” He says to her and she blushes quickly.

 

Jools looks away, and wipes her eyes quickly. Dan hadn’t seen any tears, but he could see the tell-tale signs of redness around her eyes.

 

“Don’t tell him,” she finally says, almost pleading. “I know he doesn’t like me like that, but he is the best man I know. I’m serious when I say I’m happy for you two.”

 

Dan smiles at her and stands up, taking her by surprise. He walks over to the other side of the table, pulls the woman out of her chair and squeezes her tightly. He places a chaste kiss to the side of her hair.

 

“I’m probably going to regret this for the rest of my life but I’m introducing you to Sophie,” he tells her, still hugging her tightly. She pulls back slightly and looks up at him. “She’s my ‘you’,” he explains and she giggles lightly. “C’mon, lets head back, I’ve still got loads of numbers and shit to give you!”

 

\---

Dan arrives back at Kyle’s with a couple of boxes of clothes from his own flat. He had decided to pop round and start the mammoth task of packing up, but by the time he had gotten home it was close to seven at night and he was exhausted.

 

He opens the unlocked door, knowing that Kyle would be home and dumps the boxes in the living room. He can see bags from Marks and Spencer on the table where Kyle must have gotten food and the cats were lounging on the sofa, blissfully ignoring the man in front of them. There was soft noises coming from the bedroom, so he walks over and he can see the light of the television flickering behind the door. Pushing it open he looks inside to see his partner lounging on the bed, fast asleep and unaware of the television at all. It was getting darker outside and the only light was from the set.

 

As he watches him sleep, Dan can’t help but admire how young Kyle looks in front of him. He has no frown lines like this, and even though he now sported and pretty mature beard, the skin he could see was soft and free of any kind of lines. Looking closer at him, he could see the edge of a towel peeking out from under the covers and Dan realises that he must have dozed off after a shower.

 

Moving slowly and silently over to the bed, he sheds his clothes as gracefully as he was able. He grabs a handy tube of lube that was standing on the bed side table and he watches Kyle sleep as he slicks up two fingers and opens himself up, ready for Kyle’s cock.

 

He lightly picks up the bottom of the duvet cover and peeks under seeing that he was right, and Kyle was wrapped in nothing but a towel. It sends a rush of blood to his groin and he can feel himself harden even more as he sees Kyle’s half hard cock in front of him.

 

He kneels on the end of the bed and slowly moves so he is lying in between Kyle’s legs, handily spread out in relaxation while he slept. He doesn’t even think as he continues to finger himself and then ducks his head down to lick a long stripe over the vein on the underside of his lover’s semi hard dick. Kyle makes a small snuffling noise and moves ever so slightly, and buoyed by the intimacy of it, Dan licks at the tip and slit of the now stiffening erection in front of him.

 

A louder moan comes from the head of the bed, and he opens his mouth and takes the tip in side and applies very slight suction to the head. At this, Kyle’s eyes open quickly and automatically look down at him. Dan responds by swallowing ever so slightly and taking more of his lover’s length inside.

 

“Da…Dan, fuck!” Kyle stumbles as the wet heat engulfing him becomes more intense. He moves his long fingers into Dan’s hair and starts to massage at his scalp in time with Dan’s rhythmic sucking.

 

Using his lips to shield his teeth, Dan moves all the way down the waiting shaft until his nose hits the dark bristle of pubic hair, and he gets the heady scent of Kyle, whilst sucking up the taste of him, now leaking a steady stream in his mouth.

 

He suddenly pulls all the way off of the younger man, and there is a wet pop as his mouth disengages completely and he crawls up quickly to claim his lover’s mouth. Kyle groans erotically as he tastes his own pre-come on the tongue that invades his mouth, and he can feel himself getting closer and closer to the edge.

 

Before he even realises what’s happening, Dan has straddled his waist and is holding Kyle’s dick in his hand before sinking completely and quickly down onto it. Kyle makes a deep groaning moan that sounded just like Dan’s name and Dan growls as he feels himself be filled completely and totally by his lover.

 

When Dan lifts himself slightly off of the other cock, he grinds back down with a small circular motion and this makes Kyle almost scream in ecstasy. He pulls off further and further each time, until he has almost completely come off of his leaking girth and then he slams himself down on it.

 

This leads to a more frantic motion afterwards. The sound of sweaty and filthy slapping noises from body on body fills the room, and Kyle has a small fear that his neighbours can hear everything, as he starts to moan even louder at the feeling.

 

Kyle starts thrusting up in time with Dan’s movements and suddenly, with little warning, Dan stills and Kyle can feel the muscles contracting around him milking him hard and he feels the wet heat spilling onto his stomach as Dan comes hard and untouched.

 

This knowledge alone pushes Kyle over the edge, and he can feel himself pumping deep into the man on top of him as he screams his name ferociously.

 

Both men start panting and gasping trying to get their breath back, and Dan slides off of his lover onto the pillow next to him. Kyle rolls his head to the side and al he can see is the deep azure blue eyes gazing back at him lovingly.

 

“No…tha’ I’m cmplnnn,” Kyle tries to get out, still tired, but now also exhausted and completely out of energy, “bu’ wha’ wa’ tha’ for?”

 

Almost smug that he has made his younger lover incoherent, Dan looks at him, places a soft kiss to his temple and smooths his hair out of the gorgeous brown eyes looking at him. He then moves his arms to wrap around the thin frame in front of him and he starts stroking at the dark chest hair in front of him.

 

“Well we had something to celebrate didn’t we?” He says to him. “I’m so proud of you,” and he places another kiss over his lover’s heart. “Let’s have a nap and then we can get some food,” he suggests and he gets a small nod in return before they both fall into a restful slumber.

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unlucky 13...please enjoy x

Chapter Thirteen

It takes a while for everything to settle down. In that time, Dan moves the majority of his stuff into Kyle’s place and they start finding places to store his things. Jools settles into her new position and becomes a permanent feature on the other end of Dan’s phone. She quickly becomes irreplaceable and Dan wonders how he ever got by before without someone to keep him on the right track.

 

On a Monday morning, Dan calls everyone into the studio for a meeting to go over their next steps. He and Jools had been having long discussions about what would happen and it was time to let everyone else in on the plan.

 

It was nine in the morning and they were due to meet at the studio in an hour. Uncharacteristically, Dan was awake before Kyle. Ever since his argument with his parents, he wasn’t sleeping well – more often than not only getting one or two hours sleep. He still hadn’t told anyone about it, and he had just thrown himself into his work to forget it. His mum and dad had not been in touch since he stormed out, and the only contact he’d had was with Ella every couple of days to find out how he was doing.

 

He was already washed and dressed and had fed the cats again, as he had been the first one up. He walks back into the bedroom with a cup of coffee for his boyfriend and watches Kyle snuffle in his sleep. Even after 7 years of knowing him and being around him constantly for the past 9 months, he still felt his heart melt when he looked at him, so peaceful in sleep.

 

He walks over to the bed and places the cup down next to his head on the bedside table. He climbs on the bed, straddling him and collapses down on top of him to wake him up. Kyle makes a noise sounding like an ‘oomph’ and his eyes fly open.

 

“What the fuck Dan?” he curses.

 

“Morning,” Dan replies, smiling cheekily at him. He reaches up to stroke at the beard he loved so much. “Time to get up sleeping beauty,” he tells him and pecks him on the cheek, before climbing off of the bed.

 

“That’s so not a fun way to wake up,” he mutters to himself as he throws the covers back and rolls sideways off of the bed. He spies the coffee next to him and grabs it before swallowing half the cup. “Alexa, play Kyle’s playlist,” he shouts at the speaker in the corner of the room. Dan rolls his eyes at him as his music starts to blare.

 

“You now use that more than me,” he tells him.

 

“Alexa understands me,” Kyle grumpily says to him. “Doesn’t jump on me at unreasonable times in the morning.”

 

Kyle doesn’t move from the edge of the bed as he finishes the cup of coffee with one hand and scratches his head with the other. ATC starts blaring out of the speaker as he finishes his drink, so he gets out of the bed to head into the shower, dancing in only his tight black HOM boxers.

 

Dan laughs at the sight, and wonders how he has been lucky enough to end up with the nerd walking into the bathroom.

 

\---

“Why are you all dolled up anyway?” Kyle drawls as he follows him into the reception area of the studio building.

 

“What do you mean?” he replies, looking over his shoulder and confused as he waves to the new girl behind the desk.

 

“Hair done, contacts in, and I might be going insane, but is that a _colour_ in that t-shirt you’re wearing?”

 

“Oh, hah hah. You’re a comedian now?” Dan counters, cocking an eyebrow at him, and running up the stairs.

 

“I try my best,” Kyle shoots back, and grabbing him from behind with two arms around his waist as he gets to the top of the stairs. He refuses to let him go, and they walk like this down the corridor to the door.

 

Waiting outside for them was Coop, Charlie and Sharon. Kyle was surprised to see them there, as he thought it was going to be a meeting of the main band, but he takes it in his stride as they meet up with them.

 

“Dan, dude hate to say it, but you appear to have a disgusting growth on your back.” Coop tells him with a straight face. “Doctor should be able to whip that thing right off for you.”

 

Kyle flips him off as Coop smirks at his own joke. Dan unlocks the door without saying anything and they all move into the recording space.

 

“Charlo! Sharon, how you guys doing?” Kyle says to them, finally releasing Dan to go and do whatever it was he was needing to do in the booth with Coop.

 

“Good, mate you?” Charlie says to him, but Kyle is stopped from answering by the door opening and Jools walking inside.

 

“ _You…”_ Kyle hisses at her and narrows his eyes. Jools looks at him and just puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow. “I’m not talking to _you_ …”

 

“Oh perfect!” Jools says, relieved. “I might get some work done today then.”

 

Sharon and Charlie watch the interaction between them. Charlie automatically assumes that Kyle is joking, but Sharon – still relatively new to Kyle’s sarcasm – watches the exchange with wide eyes and confusion.

 

“What did you do to Kyle?” she gasps at the older woman.

 

“I assume it’s because I made him get out of bed,” she tells the teenager. “Which, by the way, was actually your boyfriend’s idea, so you can stop blaming me!” she says to the man, who just makes a face at her and continues to pretend to ignore her.

 

“Sorry, please forgive me with that idiot’s rudeness, I have completely forgotten to introduce myself!” Jools says and walks towards the couple with her hand out. “I’m Jools, we’ve talked on the phone?”

 

“Charlie,” the man replies and shakes her hand with a smile, “and this is Sharon.”

 

“God, Simples this guy looks like a mini you…” Jools says to Kyle, and Kyle’s eyes go as wide as saucers as she says the name to him.

 

“Shhhhh!” he says to her as he takes her by the shoulders and walks her quickly away from the duo. “Don’t ever call me that in front of them!” and Jools chuckles lightly, knowing it would have annoyed him.

 

Woody joins them shortly after the exchange and immediately walks over to his kit and starts hitting the drums loudly. Jools looks a little shocked, but sees everyone is ignoring him and decides to take it in her stride. Finally, Will appears, surprisingly late but apologising as he walks through the door.

 

Dan and Coop come out of the booth and introduces Jools to him and they all finds seats around the floor. Both Kyle and Dan sit on the floor itself, Kyle behind his lover and wraps his hands around his middle again, resting his chin on his shoulder.

 

“So, thanks for coming in this morning,” Dan starts out. He hates speaking in groups, even if the people know him well, and he can feel his heart pounding against his chest with his anxiety. “Basically, this is so everyone can meet Jools, but also so we can discuss some ideas we’ve had about going forward.” He looks over at Jools, expecting her to take over. In the weeks they had worked together, she had become well aware of his nerves, and as this was something she was never bothered with she’s more than happy to carry on for him.

 

“Yeah, so we had some long talks and thoughts on what to do. Firstly, we thought it would be a good idea to put out a release date for the new single,” and everyone around the room nods in agreement and murmurs their consent to the plan. “Then I had an idea that I wanted to get everyone’s opinion on. I have a friend who works for a local music magazine as a reporter. I was thinking it would be an idea to have her with us for a small tour? She could do a fly on the wall piece about the band, maybe taking video or making a documentary? There’s a charity gig coming up at the end of next month and I think I could get you guys into it, so we could do a few venues and end with the charity concert?”

 

There’s silence around the room. No one really knows what to say, and Jools and Dan can both sense their reticence.

 

“Look guys,” she says, “you really need some good publicity. This would be a quick way of doing it.” The men look at her and do think about what she says.

 

“If we went the documentary or film route, we could put on a condition that we use Tom to do the filming,” Dan adds in. “Then at least we would have some influence over the editing of it all,” he tries to convince them.

 

“Well,” Woody finally chimes in. “I like the idea of the small tour with the charity gig. I understand we need good publicity and this would help. I think the only thing I would be happy with would be if Tom was involved.” And Will murmurs in agreement with him.

 

Dan nods at them both and leans back into his lover, looking over his shoulder at him.

 

“Ky? What do you think?”

 

Kyle breathes out deeply and leans back from Dan and onto his elbows. He doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, and all of the men, Sharon and Jools all start looking at him expectantly. He starts to chew on his lower lip, unsure of what everyone wants him to say.

 

“Well, seeing as I’m the cause of all of this anyway, I don’t think I should have an opinion on it.” He tells the all finally.

 

Dan growls at him and slaps him around the back of the head. Sharon and Jools both look at him with disappointment.

 

“Kyle, there is only one person to blame for this and it isn’t you,” a voice says to him and he looks up with surprise when he realises it’s actually Sharon shouting at him. “It’s my fucking mother who did it, so if I’m allowed an opinion, you sure as hell are. Stop being such a pushover man!” Charlie grins widely at her, and kisses her cheek.

 

“I like her!” Jools declares to the others in the room and Woody and Will both huff in agreement.

 

“Fine!” Kyle says in annoyance. “As long as Tom is involved, I’m OK with it.”  And everyone in the room agrees with this sentiment. Jools pulls out her phone to make the phone call.

 

\---

_Elsewhere in London…_

 

“Brilliant Jools! Alright, so let me know some dates to start and if you can give me Tom’s contact information and I can liaise with him,” the woman says down the phone. She says goodbye and hangs up with the promise to follow up with the plan.

 

Kate looks at her phone and smiles lightly. She reaches up to make sure her dark hair – lightened with highlights – was still in a neat ponytail at the back of her head. She shoots off an email to her editor to let them know she has an interview and possible documentary set up with Bastille. She knows her boss will be happy with the idea, but it is her other acquaintance she was looking forward to informing about it.

 

She finds the number she is looking for and raises her phone to her ear and waits for the other person to answer.

 

“Hello?”

 

“It’s Kate. They rang. We’ve got it set up.” Kate says to the person down the phone.

 

“Brilliant. Good job. You think this will work?”

 

“Well, there was a lot of tension between them all when I saw them. I can definitely work with it,” the journalist tells her. “Are you still able to pay me what you promised?”

 

“If you deliver, I can pay you,” the other person confirms.

 

“Anything you don’t want me to do?” Kate asks her and there is a beat of silence on the other end of the phone.

 

“No. Target them all. My daughter doesn’t get away with how she’s treated me so get her too.” Margaret confirms and hangs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ATC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXnpsBBBMo4
> 
> Hope you guys are still liking. As long as you read, i'll keep writing xx


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

As Jools rings her old class mate to let her know about the decision the group had made, Kyle feels his phone vibrating in his pocket and he leans to the side to pull it out. He jostles Dan in the process who looks back at him, and Kyle mouths a ‘sorry’ as he looks down at the screen. His sister’s name had flashed up on the screen, and he looked at it in confusion as he hits the green accept button and puts the phone to his ear.

 

“Hi?” he asks down the phone. His siblings never rang him unless they wanted something, preferring instead to text him – it being more impersonal that way. He glances up and sees Dan’s staring become more intense as he notices how confused his partner is.

 

The rest of the group, noticing Dan taking more of an interest in Kyle and Kyle appearing more confused than normal, all stop their own conversations and look over at him to find out what was going on.

 

“Hang on, Tash, I need to get somewhere a little less _nosey_ ,” he says before his sister can say anything and waggles his eyebrows at the rest of the room. He groans as his knees click back into place after being in an awkward position for so long and stumbles into the booth, closing the door behind him.

 

“Hey, so what can I do for you?” he says as he seats himself in the comfortable leather desk chair and relaxes back in it.

 

_“‘Hi Tasha, how are you? Haven’t seen you in ages. How are the kids?’_ ” his sister replies sarcastically at him. Kyle groans down the phone at her.

 

“Tash, that’s not how we do things in this family and you know it,” he says to her and she laughs back at him.

 

_“OK, fine. Haven’t seen you in ages and wanted to see if you want to come round for dinner tonight?”_

 

“Tonight? It’s a bit short notice isn’t it?” Kyle complains, not really enjoying the thought of family time, no matter how much he liked his sister over everyone else he was related to.

 

_“Kyle, c’mon. You were having a lot of shit last time I saw you and we’ve not really spoken since. Adam’s coming round. It’ll be a sibling bonding evening.”_

 

“With your family and his nightmare of a wife? So much for sibling bonding!” Kyle says bitterly.

 

_“The kids’ll be in bed, and why don’t you bring Dan? We can all finally meet him?”_ and as if her saying his name was some sort of summons, Dan suddenly opens the door of the booth and peeks round to see if Kyle was doing alright.

 

“Fine…hang on I’ll ask him,” Kyle says, and puts his finger over the mouthpiece on the phone and looks at Dan with depressed eyes. “Tasha wants to know if we want to go for dinner at hers tonight. Adam’ll be there too with his wife.” Kyle explains.

 

Dan looks at him, furrows his brow and Kyle can tell he’s trying to figure out exactly what he thinks Kyle wants him to say.

 

“Whatever, I’m cool if you want to go,” Dan says to him after a moment, clearly deciding to hedge his bets and throwing the ball back into Kyle’s court to make the decision. Kyle looks back at him and grimaces, knowing there was no good excuse left to him to say no now.

 

“OK, Tash,” he says back into the phone. “What time do you want us?”

 

_“Yay! Alright, how’s 7:30 sound?”_

 

“Cool, see you then,” and he hangs up on her. He can see Dan still looking at him, so he looks back and raises an eyebrow. “What?” he asks.

 

“Nothing!” Dan says, “it’s just you and your family are totally different to me and mine.”

 

Kyle laughs and doesn’t say anything as he squeezes past his boyfriend, dropping a kiss on his head as he passes.

 

As they move back into the other room, Jools has hung up her phone and was waiting for Dan to return.

 

“Well, Kate is fine with using Tom. She says she’ll liaise with him about times and dates, so did you give me Tom’s details?” Jools asks the singer, and Dan nods at her.

 

“I’ll ring him, hang on,” and he goes off to make the call to his friend and organise the dates for the recording.

 

\---

The rest of the morning and afternoon goes by pretty quickly. They all had to decide on dates for the tour they were going to do, put in ideas of the towns they wanted to go to and also figure out how they were going to get there.

 

Eventually it was decided it wasn’t going to be an arena tour, but its wasn’t going to small venues either. Jools had her list of the towns and size of venues they wanted, and it was now her job to figure out logistics and dates. The main thing she also had to do was contact the managers of the charity gig in Manchester and try and get them on the bill too.

 

Dan had managed to get Tom to agree to come on the tour with them again to do filming for the journalist and Jools had contacted Kate again to give her the projected dates and plans.

 

Before they knew it, Kyle was looking at his watch and he could see that it was nearly seven and he whispers to Dan that they had to get moving to get to St. Johns Wood.

 

“Shit! Alright, guys, can we pick this up tomorrow?” Dan exclaims quickly and looks at them all. Everyone nods and they decide to meet at the same time in the morning and all head off in their separate directions.

 

Jools stays back after everyone else has gone and walks them down to the pavement outside.

 

“Going somewhere exciting?” She asks them finally.

 

“Tasha’s. Dinner with her and Adam…” Kyle says and trails off, indicating how thrilled he was at the idea.

 

“Wow,” Jools says and her eyes go as wide as saucers. She turns to Dan and holds her hand out to him. He looks at it with a strange look on his face. “Good luck, my friend. There will probably be blood shed. May the odds be ever in your favour.” She says to him solemnly and Kyle snorts at her words.

 

“Don’t listen to her,” he says to Dan when he sees the look on his face. “We aren’t that bad. Ooh!” he shouts and sticks his hand out as a black cab drives towards them with the light on the top glowing amber. The car sees him and pulls over to the kerb to let them in. “See you tomorrow Jools!” Kyle says and jumps into the open door with Dan and gives the address to the driver.

 

Relaxing in the back of the car, Dan looks at Kyle with a worried expression on his face. He looks down at his clothes and thanks all the Gods – hedging his bets, in case one of them did exist – that he had decided to dress up a bit for today. Kyle looks over at him and sees his panic, so he puts his arm round him and pulls him closer to him on the seat to try and seem more protective.

 

“It’ll be fine. They won’t play up too much the first time they meet you,” Kyle tries for reassuring, but Dan just starts to worry more. “If it gets too bad we’ll leave yeah? Won’t be the first time I’ve walked out of a family get together.”

 

Dan looks at him with interest. “Really?” he asks with wide eyes.

 

“Fuck yeah,” Kyle tells him. “Mate I’m the family disappointment! I’ve got to do some things to keep that title.”

 

Dan doesn’t say anything to that and Kyle notices quietly. Even though he hasn’t said anything, he has noticed how quiet Dan had been recently – and he knows it’s been ever since he visited his parents. He may act stupid, but he knows that Dan hasn’t been sleeping. He can see it in the beautiful face he loves and how it’s become more gaunt and drawn over the past week or so. He’s noticed he doesn’t talk about his parents, and rarely speaks to his sister now. He won’t say anything unless it becomes a significant problem.

 

The driver pulls up outside the familiar house and Kyle gives him his fare before the men jump out of the car. He grabs hold of Dan’s hand before lightly pulling him up the garden path and ringing the doorbell.  

 

The door opens a crack and no further and Dan and Kyle both look at it for a moment before looking at each other in confusion.

 

“Can I help you?” comes a small voice from somewhere, and Dan realises it’s coming from further down the doorway than he was expecting. He looks down and he sees large brown eyes looking around the side of the door and a mop of bright blonde curls on top of a small head.

 

Dan looks at Kyle, who then kneels down so he is more at the height of the child in front of him.

 

“Claire are you going to let us in?” Kyle says to the girl nicely.

 

“Mummy always says not let strangers in the house.” Dan hears Claire say back to his partner.

 

“But I’m not a stranger, Claire, am I?” Kyle says to her, and the girl looks at him suspiciously.

 

“No but you are strange,” Dan mutters and Kyle clearly hears him as he punches him in the leg, causing him to wince.

 

“No, but he is,” she tells him and points up at Dan. The singer, surprised at what he heard just looks down at the girl with wide eyes.

 

“Claire, who is it?” comes a voice from behind the door, and Dan suddenly feels very relieved when the door is pulled open and a grown up woman is revealed. “Aw finally!” she exclaims and the woman pulls Kyle into a half hug, and then holds the door open for the men to enter the house.

 

Kyle shuts the door behind them and Dan pays attention to the woman in front of him. He assumes the woman is Kyle’s sister, but they couldn’t look more different from each other. Yes, she was as tall as Kyle, but she wasn’t nearly as slim as he was. Her features weren’t nearly as fine as his partner’s and she didn’t seem to have the ready smile on her face that Kyle always seemed to have.

 

“Tash, this is Dan. Dan this is Tash, my older sister.” Kyle introduces them to each other. The woman smiles and her brown eyes light up and completely changes the structure of her face.

 

“I’m sorry about that little terror,” she says to Dan in particular. “She’s learning about strangers at school so she’s now extra vigilant!” and Dan smiles back at her. “Come on! Come through and we’ll introduce Dan to everyone!” she says enthusiastically and Kyle looks over at Dan and they both mouth the words ‘can’t wait’ to each other before giggling under their breaths.

 

The walk into the large living room where everyone seemed to have congregated. Dan looks around him at the large bay window at the front and the two separate sofas and 2 armchairs decorating the room. On the floor in the middle of the room is Clair playing with her toys and another child, almost identical apart from the fact he was clearly a boy and has short cropped blond hair.

 

“So you’ve already met Claire there, and that toe rag next to her is Logan, they’re both mine,” Tasha tells Dan quickly.

 

A shorter man stands up from one of the chairs in the corner. He was a plump man and his blond hair was thinning on top. He walks towards the men with his hand outstretched.

 

“Kyle, good to see you again,” the man says first and Kyle shakes his hand quickly. “You must be Dan,” he says next and Dan shakes his hand as well. The hand is large and slightly sweaty and Dan has to ignore the urge to dry his own on his jeans once he had let go. “I’m Martin, Natasha’s husband.”

 

“Nice to meet you Martin,” Dan says to the man and looks at Kyle quickly to see him smirking.

 

“And this is Adam, our brother and his wife Lorraine,” Tasha finishes, pointing at the stern looking man on the sofa and his haughty looking wife next to him.

 

Adam was thin and tall like Kyle, even though he was sitting down and making no effort to stand and greet the men. He had close cropped hair, the same complexion as his siblings, but he looked much older than he was meant to considering he was the middle child. Dan waves shyly at him and he gets a curt nod in response from the man and nothing from the woman.

 

He looks over at Kyle, who reaches over to him and grabs his hand again, squeezing it tighter than he would expect considering it was his family he was around. He could read it in his expression that they were both thinking exactly the same thing – it was going to be an interesting evening.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry these are being posted so late at night! Insomnia is real, :(
> 
> Please enjoy these idiots x

Chapter Fifteen

Kyle pulls Dan over to the empty sofa, while Tasha settles in the spare armchair near her own husband. There is a stony and awkward silence that follows.

 

“So…it’s really good to finally meet you Dan,” Tasha says, trying to break the silence.

 

Dan smiles shyly at her in response. He mentally kicks himself for being like this. He has no idea why he’s able to talk to fans stopping him in the street, but being faced with his partner’s siblings is causing him to lose all confidence in himself. ‘Get over yourself Smith,’ he chastises himself and he tries to make a concerted effort to at least be a bit more social.

 

“Yeah, it’s really nice to finally meet you all as well,” Dan finally says. “Kyle’s told me a lot about you.”

 

There is a derisive snort from the other sofa and everyone looks over to see an unpleasant smirk on Adam’s face.

 

“I hardly think he has told you that much about us,” he says condescendingly, and Dan looks at him, confused and then at Kyle who is rolling his eyes.

 

“Adam, don’t start,” Kyle tells him sharply.

 

“Well, we’ve known each other for a number of years, so yeah he has told me a lot about his family,” Dan interrupts, trying to placate the situation, but noticing that Adam just turns to his wife and raises a sceptical eyebrow at her.

 

Dan feels a tap on his knee and he looks down to see Claire staring up at him with her brother hiding behind her. Dan feels his brows raise high and his eyes widen as he is scrutinised the way only a four-year-old can.

 

“Uhm…hi?” he says down to her, and he can feel Kyle’s arm fall down behind him and his hand start to stroke comfortingly at his lower back.

 

“Your name’s Dan?” she asks him and Dan looks back and nods at her. He watches her small face twist as if she’s thinking hard. “You and uncle Kyle are boyfriends?” she asks and Dan looks up at Kyle before saying anything he shouldn’t. He feels the fingers behind his back tighten.

 

“Claire, you and Logan go and get ready for bed please,” Tasha says from behind them, and both Kyle and Dan exhale in relief. They watch the two blondes troop out of the room. Tasha then turns to her husband. “Hun, can you please go and get some drinks for Dan and Kyle and then make sure they are doing alright up there?”

 

Martin stands up and looks at the two men on the sofa. “We’ve got beer, wine, spirits, cider, and soft drinks?” he says to them and without even looking at each other the lovers quickly answer with beer, both realising that they would need to be a little less sober for the evening.

 

“Well, Kyle’s told us a lot about you as well Dan,” Tasha says to him, going back to what they had been talking about before they were interrupted. Kyle’s face goes beetroot red at the admission of his sister and he shoots her a death glare, telling her to shut up.

 

“All good I hope,” Dan replies, politely, and this earns another snort from the opposite sofa.

 

Martin walks back in with their drinks and announces that the food is ready, so they all get out of their seats and start to walk into the kitchen. Kyle puts his hand out and keeps Dan behind everyone else as they walk out.

 

“I’m so sorry about Adam,” he whispers quickly. “We’ll eat and leave, I promise.”

 

“Look, I can handle this babe,” Dan assures his boyfriend. “I know you’ve got my back but I can hold my own as well.”

 

Kyle gives him a small smile and cups his hand around Dan’s neck to bring him forward and kiss him lightly on the lips. They break apart and smile at each other before starting to walk out of the door and almost tripping up on a four-year-old in the process. Kyle reaches out and pulls him backward, steadying him so he doesn’t topple over the girl.

 

“Claire, shouldn’t you be in bed?” Kyle asks her.

 

“Why were you kissing Dan like Daddy kisses Mummy?” she asks them, and Kyle looks to the ceiling, mentally counting to ten to calm his nerves.

 

“Because Dan is my boyfriend. Don’t you remember that talk we had a while ago?” and Claire shakes her head quickly, pouting. Dan hides a small snort of laughter as she reminds him of Kyle with that one look.

 

“Claire, for goodness sake, go to bed!” Tasha exclaims from behind them and ushers her daughter up the stairs.

 

“God give me strength,” Kyle murmurs to himself as the finally move into the kitchen to sit at the large wooden table.

 

It was set up for all of them, and the food was laid out for everyone to help themselves. A full roast chicken with vegetables and gravy had been made and Kyle and Dan take the last two seats available and start to dish out the food they both wanted.

 

The table and room are both quiet while everyone devours the food, which was excellent. Kyle hated spending time with his siblings, but he couldn’t deny that Tasha was a brilliant home cook.

 

“So Adam, Kyle tells me you’re a teacher,” Dan finally breaks the silence, and trying to bond in some way with the middle sibling. “What is it you teach?”

 

The man looks at the singer, and appears put out that he has to provide him with any answer at all.

 

“I’m a deputy head teacher at a primary school,” he says, almost bragging in his admission. “I also teach the choir there.”

 

“Wow, you’re awfully young to be a deputy head,” Dan praises him and he is rewarded with a smug self-satisfying grin. “And choir, that’s cool.”

 

“Yes, well Kyle isn’t the only one in the family who is musical,” he slates, and Kyle raises an eyebrow at the comment. Almost no one would have noticed, but Dan did purely because he was so in tune with his boyfriend’s movements.

 

“So what kind of music does your choir do?” Dan asks conversationally, trying to keep the talking civil and at least it was to do with something he knew something about.

 

“Well, at the moment we are doing songs from musicals for the upcoming harvest festival,” he tells him, and Dan tries to look interested for the next fifteen minutes while he is taught the intricacies of harmonies and organising different vocal parts.

 

“Ads, Dan writes all our music, stop being a teacher for God’s sake,” Kyle finally chips in with frustration.

 

“Oh really?” the teacher asks. “I thought you had your songs written for you and you were the face the company put on them.”

 

Dan tenses slightly, and he feels Kyle’s hand on his knee, squeezing it hard and he looks over to see his lover’s face become red with frustration.  

 

“Adam!” Tasha shouts at him. “You know for a fact that is bullshit, stop trying to get a rise out of Kyle.” And Dan shoots her a thankful look and gets a small smile in reply. He looks over at the brother and he is now grinning evilly, knowing he has succeeded in pissing off his youngest sibling.

 

“Lorraine, how are you feeling anyway?” Martin pipes up, changing the subject.

 

“Oh, well you know,” the woman says vaguely. “Always worse in the morning!” she jokes and the two laugh lightly at the obvious pun.

 

“Huh? What have I missed?” Kyle asks the table as a whole and looks to each person in turn.

 

“Did mum and dad not tell you?” Tasha asks him and Kyle just shakes his head.

 

“Haven’t spoken to them in weeks,” Kyle explains and can see Adam rolling his eyes.

 

“Well Lorraine and I are pregnant,” Adam tells him arrogantly.

 

“Wow! Congratulations!” Dan says with a smile and the two just sneer at him.

 

“Yeah, Ads, congrats.” Kyle says to them, and everyone goes back to eating again.

 

“Mummy,” comes a small voice from the doorway and everyone looks round and sees Claire and Logan standing there again.

 

“Is she a ninja in training or something?” Dan whispers to Kyle who just shakes his head as if to say ‘ _don’t even go there’_.

 

“Claire,” Tasha says with a warning tone in her voice, but is stopped when the two run over to the table to hug the woman tightly.

 

“I just wanted to ask uncle Kyle and Dan something,” she says to them and Tasha looks at them before letting her do exactly that.

 

Kyle watches the girl settle herself on Tasha’s lap before looking over to them. Dan looks directly at his boyfriend and couldn’t help but feel this was going to be more intense than any televised interview they had ever done.

 

“If you and Uncle Kyle are boyfriends, what happens when Uncle Kyle likes girls again, cos Uncle Adam says that this is only a…a…phrase and that Uncle Kyle is doing it to upset granny and grandad…” she finishes, and Kyle says nothing but immediately looks at his brother with an eyebrow raised.

 

“Did he now?” Kyle says looking directly at Adam, a playful tone to his voice, much to Dan’s surprise.

 

“Uh-huh,” Claire says and continues, “and how are you and Dan going to have babies, cos mummy was telling me how Uncle Adam and Aunty Raine are having a baby, but if you two both have penises, how do you have a baby?”

 

Dan snorts from beside him, and tries desperately to turn it into a cough, very unsuccessfully in Kyle’s opinion.

 

“Uhm, Claire, Logan go upstairs, please – Martin, take them both to bed _please_!” Tasha barks quickly, her own face now turning very red with extreme embarrassment.

 

The room is silent as Martin takes the children upstairs and away from the family. He comes back into the stony silence that he left and sees that everyone has finished eating. Kyle is still looking between his brother and his sister, with some sort of amusement on his face, but Dan can’t decide if he finds the situation laughable or is trying to hide his real emotions.

 

“Lorraine, Dan, why don’t we go outside and get some fresh air in the back garden with our drinks for a few minutes?” Martin suggests to them, and Lorraine stands up quickly to get away from the atmosphere.

 

Dan looks at Kyle and receives a small smile and a nod indicating he would be fine if Dan left for a while. Deciding it would be best to give the family a bit of space, he stands up to leave. Kyle grabs his wrist as he’s about to turn and walk away and pulls him down towards him. He crashes their lips together in a hard and passionate kiss, before letting him go out with the other partners.

 

The three of them hear the back door click shut and Kyle immediately looks at Adam with a fierceness in his eyes.

 

“Now I assume Claire meant ‘phase’ because I can’t imagine a bright, successful teacher would get that wrong!” he says levelly to his brother. Adam just looks back at him, not even embarrassed.

 

“K, Ads, let’s not have an argument here,” Tasha tries to interfere and diffuse the tension.

 

“No, Tash, there’s not going to be an argument! Adam’s just gonna tell me why he thinks this is a ‘phase’.”

 

Still looking directly at his brother, nothing is said for what feels like a millennia. Adam leans back slightly in his seat and starts to sip from his glass of red wine. Finally, aware that Kyle wasn’t going to change the question or leave it, he starts to speak.

 

“Well Kyle, it’s not like you haven’t done this sort of thing to get attention before,” and Kyle scoffs as he hears the start of the explanation. “No, come on. Remember when we were kids and you pretended you had broken your leg after standing up off of the toilet?”

 

“You fucking kidding me Adam? I was in plaster for 12 weeks, I had torn all the tendons in my leg!”

 

“What and never felt it until you went to the loo?”

 

“Not even gonna explain this to you again Adam,” Kyle says angrily. “So what has that got to do with this?”

 

“Well, you had been with that girl for years, and all of a sudden you’re gay and with a man? And don’t get me started on that tattoo I’ve just noticed on your finger. DCS? I assume that’s _him_?”

 

“Firstly,” Kyle says quietly, not wanting to betray his internal feelings. “Yes, DCS is Dan’s initials. Secondly, I’m really sorry to tell you this, but I’m bisexual and have been sleeping with guys _and_ girls since I was 17.” He looks at both of his siblings when he says this and he can tell that Adam was surprised with the admission. He had clearly thought Dan was the first. “Thirdly, this is not the kind of fucking attention I want to be getting! You guys have no idea what I’ve been through. I’m happy for you Adam that you are starting a family, and I assume that’s why you thought this was happening, but the world doesn’t revolve around you!”

 

“Well it doesn’t fucking revolve around you either,” Adam hisses back at him and Kyle starts laughing at him with the absurdness of the statement.

 

“What the hell does that mean?” Kyle challenges.

 

“Well, you never contact us unless you want something, you ignore mum and dad and never offer them help. You never do anything with the rest of the family and you treat us as if we are all beneath you!”

 

“Well that is total bullshit,” comes a voice from behind the man and Kyle looks up and sees Dan standing at the back door.

 

“I’m sorry, you’ve what? Known this family for all of five minutes?” Adam shoots at him and Dan walks over to Kyle glaring at the man all the way.

 

“Well, I may have known you for five minutes Adam, but from what I can see you’re the self-absorbed, arrogant prick who thinks the sun shines out of his ass.” And Kyle looks at his boyfriend with total shock. “I’ve known this man here for 7 years, and lived in very close proximity for a large proportion of that time, so yeah, I know him pretty well. He’s also fucked me ten ways from Sunday, so I know it’s definitely not a phase either,” he adds and Adam has the good grace to blush at the admission.

 

“Dan…” Kyle tries to interrupt.

 

“No Ky, I won’t have him talk about you like you’re nothing. This man is the most genuine, thoughtful and generous person I’ve ever known and I love him with all my heart. I know he loves me the same way. So you can take your bigoted ideas and prejudices and take a long walk of a small pier, yeah?”

 

Adam looks from Dan to Kyle and is shell shocked. No one had ever talked to him like that before and he had always been the golden boy in the Simmons family. Tasha looks shocked as well, but can’t help but admire her little brother’s boyfriend for what he just said.

 

“Kyle, maybe we should go home?” Dan says as he turns to his partner and Kyle can’t do anything but nod at him.

 

“Tasha, thank you so much for dinner. It was lovely, and I would love to see you again. Adam, I’m sure by now the feeling is mutual, but I’d rather not see you again until you’ve changed your attitude,” Dan says and he gives Tasha a quick hug before walking towards the front door.

 

Kyle gets out of his seat and gives his sister a hug as well. To his total surprise she hugs him back and whispers in his ear – “he’s a keeper, don’t let him go,” and Kyle squeezes her in response.

 

He walks out of the front door and finds Dan at the side of the pavement waiting for a taxi to drive by.

 

“What the hell was that?” Kyle asks him incredulously.

 

“I won’t have him talking about you like that. I know he’s your family, but still.”

 

There’s more silence as the start to walk down the road to see if they can get better chances with a cab on the main road. They get to a bus shelter and Kyle pulls Dan in and makes him sit down on the metal bench.

 

“What happened with your parents, Dan,” Kyle asks him and Dan avoids his gaze and tries to get up and move away. Kyle grabs his arms and keeps him in place. “Dan?”

 

“I walked out and told them I wouldn’t be back,” he finally says, and sobs quietly.

 

“Oh, baby,” Kyle mumbles and pulls him into his arms to comfort him properly. He kisses him a number of times on his cheek and in his hair while he just stands and holds him.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Dan says, his words muffled by Kyle’s shoulder and he just gets shushed by his boyfriend who starts to rub circles on his back. Finally, he moves back and sits back down on the bench. Kyle crouches down in front of him and looks up into his eyes.

 

“Well, I can’t speak for what happened with your mum and dad, but that was the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me you know,” Kyle says to him. “And if I can help with your family, I will. I love you Daniel Campbell Smith, and there’s nothing we can’t handle if we’re together. In fact…shit, this is so not the best place for this!” he exclaims.

 

Dan looks down at him with a furrowed brow, wondering what on earth Kyle was talking about.

 

“Fuck it! Daniel Smith, marry me?”

 

Dan looks at him, shocked at the turn of events. After everything he had said to Kyle’s brother he wouldn’t have been surprised if Kyle was angry at him, but he wasn’t and he had just _known_ something had happened with his own family. He was being forever surprised by the man in front of him and now, looking down into his lover’s soulful brown eyes he was officially being proposed to.

 

“Kyle…” he starts and he sees Kyle’s face start to fall, almost in the same way it had on the night he had been given his promise ring. “No! Kyle, listen!” he shouts, almost too loudly and Kyle looks directly at him again.

 

“Kyle, I think I loved you the minute I saw you. You’re my soul mate, my best friend and now I’m lucky enough to call you my lover. Of course I’ll marry you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> : )
> 
> Comments and Kudos always appreciated xx


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, so here you go, enjoy! x

Chapter Sixteen

“What?” Kyle asks Dan, not sure whether he was able to believe his ears or not.

 

“I said yes Ky. Yes, of course I’ll marry you!” Dan says again, putting all of the emphasis on the small word.

 

Kyle jumps up from his crouching position and pull Dan up into a bone crushing hug. He cups both hands around the back of Dan’s neck and holds him just inches from his own face.

 

“Say it again?” Kyle whispers to him, loud enough only Dan can hear him.

 

“YES!” Dan shouts, throwing his head back in Kyle’s hands. He laughs giddily and brings his head back down to look directly into Kyle’s eyes again. “Yes, Kyle Simmons, I will marry you,” he says in the same whisper Kyle had asked him.

 

Kyle smiles softly at the crazy man in front of him and pulls his head forward to bump noses together. He nips at his fiancé’s lips once, twice and then pulls him into a soft, sensual kiss. Neither man wanted to deepen this kiss, but they kept returning for more, not seeming to get enough of each other. Suddenly they hear a hiss and a screech from behind them and break away to see a bus stopping behind them and the doors opening.

 

Looking at the number on the bus, it just so happened it was the bus that went past their flat, so they both decide to get on, swipe their oyster cards and find a seat in the surprisingly crowded bus. Sitting down next to each other, and threading their fingers together, they kept themselves to themselves for the duration of the trip back. Neither of them wanting to draw too much attention to themselves, but both of them excited enough to know if they looked at or touched each other more they would falter and make a spectacle amongst the London travellers.

 

Once the reached their destination, they both jumped off of the bus and Kyle pulled Dan by the hand to run the last few metres to their building. After getting the stair door open and then rushing up the stairs to the front door, neither man could wait much longer. Dan managed to unlock the door and drag Kyle in after him, and they both immediately headed for their shared bedroom.

 

“Cats out!” Kyle shouts and both of the moggies run out of the room, thinking they were getting treats. He slams the door behind them and reaches out tries to pull Dan towards him. In the seconds it took to do this, Dan had shed all of his clothes and was standing in front of him wonderfully naked and waiting for Kyle to catch up.

 

“Oh my god,” Kyle moans in appreciation as he takes his lover’s body in and savours the wanton and lustful look on his face.

 

Dan doesn’t let Kyle catch hold of him and he just falls backwards onto the king size bed and moves up so his head is resting on the pillows and he watches Kyle with hooded and black eyes.

 

“If you don’t hurry up, I’m gonna start without you,” Dan says, voice lower than normal and full of seduction for the younger man. Kyle’s eyes grow wider with the thought, but Dan isn’t joking as he reaches over to the side table for the lube waiting there and squeezes it out onto his own hand. Kyle’s standing dumbstruck as he watches the long fingers of his lover reach down to his own length and start to stroke softly at it, teasing and tugging the way he likes.

 

In complete awe of the beautiful snuffling and whining noises coming from the back of Dan’s throat, Kyle moves forward towards the bed slowly and kneels on the end of it, to get a better look at what Dan is actually doing. He watches him take his other hand and cup his own balls and massage them gently, making his cock twitch and his moans louder.

 

“Kyle, if you don’t get your ass down here quickly I’m seriously going to finish without you,” Dan manages to gasp out quickly, and with that Kyle strops out of his t-shirt, jeans and boxers and moves further up the bed to kiss Dan with all of his might. Straddling his hips, he settles down over his lover’s groin and can feel the hardness poking into his back, leaking and waiting.

 

He licks impatiently into the singer’s mouth, almost counting his teeth as he explores the wetness he finds there. He starts to fuck his own tongue into him and it causes moans from both of them as they both start leaking heavily. Dan’s tongue wrestles him for dominance as he tries to do the same, but Kyle ultimately wins with lust filled strength alone.

 

Dan reaches between them and uses the lube that was left to slick Kyle’s own cock up so it was ready to go, and Kyle throws his head back in delight as the hand squeezes to just the right pressure to cause him to go rock hard. Dan strokes Kyle hard and Kyle completely forget where he is and what he was doing as he revels in the pleasure he is experiencing.

 

Dan’s hand pulls away suddenly, causing Kyle to whimper again, but brings him back to the present as he then reaches out for the lube himself and pours it over his fingers. He waits for it to heat up and moves himself down so he can reach between then and stoke Dan’s dick hard, before trailing a finger down over his balls and pushing in slightly at his perineum, causing a groan from his lover. He looks up to see Dan’s eye lust blown, and only showing a slight halo of blue around the black pupils there. He’s staring directly at Kyle and biting hard down on his lower lip, causing Kyle to surge upward and take a bite out of it as well, before reaching back down between Dan’s legs.

 

Dan feels the warm touch ghosting over his hole as Kyle starts to massage lightly at the entrance. He bears down to get closer towards the finger, and Kyle takes the hint by inserting his index finger into the first knuckle, before moving it around to loosen the tight muscle he finds there. Dan enjoys the initial burn, but it quickly turns into more, as his lover speeds up the movement and starts to fuck into his behind quickly and with a purpose.

 

“More…Kyle, more, please,” Dan pleads from above him and Kyle immediately withdraws his finger to insert two in its place. Dan groans at the further burn and then sinks back onto them as they start to scissor him open to widen the channel even further. Kyle groans himself as he feels the silky smoothness inside, opening up nicely for him and he then quickly inserts a third finger to make it wider.

 

“You ready for me?” Kyle asks huskily, looking up to his lover from between his legs. Dan has his eyes clenched shut in ecstasy and just frantically nods in agreement.

 

Kyle gets up on his knees and pulls Dan down towards him by his hips. He presses the head of his shaft at the hole, now perfectly open and waiting for him and pushes in slowly. Kyle can never get over the initial feeling of pushing into Dan. Every time he does it, it feels like the first time, and the extreme tightness and heat he feels surrounding him just enhances the love he has for the man under him. He can no longer tell where he ends and Dan begins and he is elated that Dan has agreed to be with him forever.

 

He feels Dan nudge his back with his feet, telling him he is ready to move, and Kyle starts to do just that. He pulls out slightly and eases his way back in and drags a low guttural moan from his partner as he does it. He continues with the slow and steady for a few minutes, before he feels his own delight heighten and realises he has to start to speed up. He changes angle to the one he knows will be perfect for Dan and starts to pound in quickly, letting the slapping of sweat soaked skin arouse him even more. He pushes in faster and faster, hearing Dan’s breathing getting quicker and quicker, before hearing Dan chant ‘yesyesyesyes’ over and over. Kyle feels rather than sees the orgasms, as the internal muscles take hold of his cock and squeeze harder and harder. Dan goes quiet, but is still panting under him, as Kyle pushes in quickly another couple of times before he feels the heat from within pour out and his vision whites out.

 

Kyle comes to slowly and looks up to see Dan looking down at him and feels him stroking his hair lightly.

 

“Hi there,” Dan says as he feels him wake up and Kyle nuzzles into his chest a bit more, exhausted. He feels himself slip from inside Dan and Dan whines at the loss.

 

“Did I pass out?” Kyle asks him, sleepily.

 

“Mmhmm,” Dan replies and kisses him on the forehead.

 

“Sorry,” he apologises and snuggles in closer to his fiancé. Huffing a sigh, he then decides to get out of bed and wobbly walk over to the sink in the bathroom. He quickly wipes himself down and then takes the damp towel back to Dan to clean him up too.

 

Chucking the towel into the dirty pile in the corner of the room, he settles back into his partner and settling back on his chest. He hears the soft snoring coming from the man above him and he looks up at where the noise is coming from. He smiles to himself and feels elated that Dan is finally getting a well-earned sleep.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, this is the second update for today, just so you don't get confused. 
> 
> Please enjoy x

Chapter Seventeen

Kyle wakes up first the following morning, the first time in over a week that has happened. He looks over at his boyfriend – sorry, fiancé now and he grins at the thought – and sees he is still fast asleep. One arm has been thrown over his head to shield his eyes and he is now lying diagonally on the bed with his legs in a starfish shape. Kyle picks his phone up to take a photo of him and to check the time.

 

Neither of them had set an alarm, so when he sees it is just past 9, he jumps up to have a shower and make a coffee for Dan before coming back in to shake him awake.

 

“Babe, c’mon, up you get,” he says softly. “You’re the one who wanted to go and work again today.”

 

“Nyah…don’t wanna get up,” comes the garbled reply and Dan tries to turn over and bury himself in the warmth of the pillow.

 

“Have to, or they’ll just knock the door down looking for you,” Kyle tries.

 

“Let them…wanna spend time in bed with my amazing fiancé,” he declares and tries to pull Kyle back into the bed with him. Kyle fights back, laughing and gets off the bed to start putting clothes on.

 

“No clothes!” Dan declares as he watches him pull jeans and an old faded white Bastille t-shirt out of the drawers and throws them on the bed.

 

“I think I’d be arrested for real if I went out without clothes. C’mon Smith, out of bed,” Kyle says forcefully and sprays himself with deodorant before pulling his t-shirt on. Dan watches him pull on his socks and then his jeans.

 

“Kyle?” Dan asks and Kyle looks up with a smirk.

 

“Daniel?” He asks back, with humour in his voice.

 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” and Kyle looks back at him confused.

 

“Am I?” He replies and buttons up his jeans, completely aware he is now commando underneath them.

 

“You are going to fucking kill me today aren’t you?” Dan says to him and Kyle chuckles as he watches him drag himself out of the bed and into the bathroom.

 

Finally, they both are out of the house dead on ten, and neither one wanting to rush they meander to the studio, taking their time and enjoying the sun. They walk with their arms wrapped around the other’s waist and they each have a hand in a back pocket as they go.

 

“I can’t believe your commando under there,” Dan growls at him as they approach the red brick building and Kyle smiles at him. Dan wipes his converses on the doormat while Kyle wipes his black and red Nike high tops and walks in front of him, purposefully giving his ass a little shake. Dan groans behind him lowly and he can see the confused look on the receptionist’s face as they pass.

 

Opening the door into their own studio, they can hear a lot of music going on. Dan sees that Woody is leading it behind the drums, obviously having gotten bored waiting for them and Charlie had tuned up a guitar and was strumming along with him. Will was relaxing in the corner, chatting to Sharon and Jools was standing against the booth window with a slim woman he didn’t recognise, watching the scene around them.

 

He looks over at Kyle who is distracted by his phone for the time being and then waves over at the musicians still jamming away. He gets a slight head nod in reply and a wave from the corner before he walks over to the two women.

 

“Dan!” Jools greets him loudly, shouting over the riffs of the electric guitar and banging of the drums. Dan looks at her and can barely hear her, so he gestures to walk through the door and the three of them troop into the sound booth. They shut the door and Jools looks amazed at the almost silence that she is greeted with. “That’s amazing!” she says to him and Dan just gives her a small smile, still aware there was a woman he didn’t know around.

 

“Hi, I’m Dan,” he says and puts his hand out to greet the woman.

 

“Hi, yeah, we kind of met a week or so ago,” the woman says to him and shakes his hand. Seeing the look of confusion on his face, she starts to explain again. “At the club? Kyle’s night out.” And Dan finally gives her a slight look of recognition.

 

“Sorry, I was a little out of it that night.” He apologises to her and she waves it off.

 

“That’s OK. I’m Kate, the journalist who’s gonna follow you around.”

 

“Kate wanted to come in and get a feel for everyone and maybe get first hand dates from everyone,” Jools explains quickly. “Hope that was alright?” and Dan just nods with a smile as he takes his Adidas jacket off and puts it on the back of one of the chairs.

 

“Cool, no problem.” He says easily and opens the door to go back out. He sees Kyle chatting to Will and Sharon in the corner as Charlie and Woody finish off whatever it was they were playing with a flourish, to a small round of applause from everyone in the room.

 

“So you decided to join us then?” Woody says to Dan as he walks into the middle of the room and Dan shoves two fingers up at him.

 

“So has everyone been introduced to Kate?” and the room just looks at him as if he’s grown two heads.

 

“We came in maybe two minutes before you did, so no one has been introduced,” Jools tells him, and Dan nods in understanding.

 

“Cool, well this is Kate, she’s the journalist who’s gonna be with us on this little tour. Kate, you know Kyle,” and Kyle nods and waves from the corner. “That’s Will, Sharon, Charlie and Woody,” he points out each person as he goes and they wave to say hi.

 

The door opens from behind them and Coop wanders in with a tray of coffees. “Oh and this amazing man here is Coop,” Dan adds and sidles over to him for his second cup of coffee of the day.

 

“Smooth talker you,” Coop says to him as he hands him the cup, and gives him a kissing face. “Dude, you’ve got competition now,” he shouts over to Kyle who just gives him a smile that lets Coop know he’s not got a chance and raises an eyebrow at Dan who just blushes fiercely. He takes another cup from the sound man and walks over to the corner where Kyle and Will are still talking, and hands the cup over to the keyboard player.

 

“Cheers, Dan,” he says and takes the cup. “Babe, I’ve got to talk off in an hour or so, is that alright?” he leans over and whispers into Dan’s ear. Dan pulls away and looks at him mystified.

 

“It’s nothing life threatening, but I’ve got to go,” Kyle explains vaguely to him. He gets scrutinised again by the singer, who then just shrugs his shoulders and agrees that he can go. “Thanks babe,” and Kyle drops a quick kiss on his stubbled cheek, to jeers from Woody at the other side of the room. “Oh, and Will’s coming with me,” Kyle then drops in as Dan turns away from him.

 

“Huh?” Dan says, looking more confused. “Why has Will got to go?”

 

“Because I need him with me for this. Dan come on, don’t be a nightmare.” Kyle says to him lightly.

 

“I’m not being a nightmare, but Will needs to stay to organise dates and stuff,” Dan argues.

 

“I gave you my dates yesterday Dan. We can do major decisions while we’re all here, and then you can do fine tuning once we’ve head off?” Will tries to compromise.

 

“But...!” Dan tries, exasperatedly. “God, you want to be involved, then you don’t want to be involved,” Dan starts muttering to himself and busies himself getting the Mac set up with everything they had decided the previous day.

 

Will looks over at Kyle quickly who just gives him a small shake of the head. “Ignore him, it’ll be fine,” he says to him and pats him on the shoulder

 

“Better be, cos I’m only doing this as a favour,” Will says to him quietly and Kyle just nods at him.

 

Kate watches the entire exchange with interest, but quickly moves over to where Dan has set his stuff up on the corner of the piano and Woody’s tom again.

 

Kyle walks over and jumps up to sit on the piano, and gets an evil look from his fiancé when he notices.

 

“Not moving. I’m in pain,” Kyle tells him and stays exactly where he is. Dan goes back to looking at the list he had made the day before and looks at Jools before asking if anyone had gotten back to them.

 

“Well, guys,” Jools says addressing the room as a whole, “I got a call back from the management company for the NSPCC concert in Manchester, and they’ve got space for you. So you’ve been added to their line-up.”

 

“Awesome,” Woody says to her and offers a high five which Jools gratefully returns.

 

“The girl I spoke to is gonna email me over the requirements. Times and other bands and stuff.” Jools says to everyone, but in particular to Dan, who nods at her and makes a note on his spreadsheet.

 

They spend the next hour trying to pin down appropriate locations for Jools to contact and book for them. Dates were narrowed down and Jools also made a call to get a tour bus booked for them. Coop got the names and numbers for her to help sort out moving equipment around and Charlie and Sharon made sure they would be free for all the dates as well.

 

After the hour had passed, Kyle checks his watch and looks over at Will to get his attention, and jumps down from the piano.

 

“Dan that’s us heading off alright?” He says to his partner and he places a kiss on his head to say goodbye.

 

“You need anything else from me before we go Dan?” Will asks him quickly, putting his denim jacket on in preparation to leave. Dan just looks at him with a scowl and shakes his head.

 

“C’mon mate,” Kyle says to him, pulling his jacket from the top of the piano and purposefully dragging it over Dan’s head to piss him off, before winking at him as he opens the door. “And cheer the fuck up Dan,” he adds before disappearing off.

 

\---

“So where are we meeting them?” Will asks after they’ve left the building and started walking down the street. Kyle pulls his phone out, types in the passcode and hands it over to the bass player.

 

_Ella – Kyle, can we meet and talk about Dan?_

_Kyle – when and where?_

 

_Ella – I’m in town today with a friend. Can we meet at midday? Starbucks near Charing Cross?_

_Kyle – see you then_

“Right then. Taxi?” Will asks him, handing back his phone.

 

“Yup,” Kyle replies and hails the next free black cab that comes past.

 

\---

Both men walk into the café and queue at the till to order their drinks and something to eat for lunch. Kyle gets himself his normal coffee and a cinnamon swirl, while Will gets himself some crazy Frappuccino drink full of calories and cream. They both find a table in the corner of the room to wait for their drinks and the teenager meeting them.

 

Will gets up to get their drinks when their names are called. Starbucks staff again doing a stellar job of getting their names right. The owners of these two drinks are ‘Wyl’ and ‘Kyel’ and they both have to take photos and put them on twitter to prove it or no one would believe them.

 

They both notice the door opening at the same minute and they see the slim brunette girl walking in towards them. She stops when she sees Will, but recovers her composure and gives him a quick hug before waving shyly at Kyle.

 

“I’ll just go and get myself a drink and I’ll be back,” she says to them after dropping her bag at the table and moving to the end of the queue with her mobile.

 

“This is going to be awkward,” Will says quietly.

 

“I know, but if I can find out exactly what’s going on with Dan I ca hopefully help him sort it,” Kyle tells him. “And maybe he’ll calm down a bit as well.”

 

“That would be nice,” Will says as he watches the girl walk back towards the table. They both smile as she walks closer.

 

“Two drinks?” Kyle asks her as she sits down with them.

 

“One’s for my friend from college. She’s meeting me here soon,” she says and Kyle makes an impressed face and smiles. “Has Dan said anything to you about what happened when he was down last?”

 

“He told me last night he walked out and he wasn’t going back. I’ve known he’s been unhappy since he was there but he hasn’t given me any details,” he tells her. Will looks at the girl and just shakes his head to indicate he didn’t know anything either.

 

“Well,” Ella sighs, “him, mum and dad got into a major fight over…” and she pauses and looks up awkwardly at Kyle.

 

“About me?” Kyle asks her and she just nods. “Not totally surprised,” he says flippantly.

 

“Dad called you some pretty awful things and wouldn’t believe that anything that had happened was my fault,” she explains briefly and Kyle just shrugs at her.

 

“Well, you’re his little girl Ella, I’m not shocked,” he tells her and Will nods in agreement. “So is there anything I can do to get Dan back in touch with your mum and dad?” he asks her finally, desperate to try and help patch things up.

 

“I don’t know,” the girl says. “Mum’s pretty beaten up about it, but dad’s acting like he never existed, it’s awful at home right now.”

 

Kyle takes a sip of his coffee and starts to think about what he could do to help. The only thing he can think of is to talk to Mr Smith himself and see if they can work out their differences. A shadow covers the table suddenly and they all look up to see another girl standing there.

 

“Oh hey,” Ella says to her, the girl clearly being her friend. “Kyle, Will, this is Maison, my friend from college,” and they all wave in greeting.

 

Maison sits down next to Ella and grabs the drink that the girl had got for her. She takes a sip of the cold coffee she had ordered and points at the doorway.

 

“Ella, that guy keeps looking at you at the door. He looks pretty mad,” she says to her friend and goes back to drinking from the cup.

 

All three look up at the doorway. Ella looks to see who is angry at her and the men look up to make sure there isn’t going to be any trouble. As soon as all three of them look at the door, they soon realise that no trouble would be the best case and least likely scenario, as they look directly into the red face of Mr Smith.

 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The large and apparently very angry man walks purposefully over to the table in the corner of the room with the four people sitting at it. It was almost as if they could see the steam coming out of the man’s ears and his extreme displeasure was clear for everyone in the vicinity to see.

 

“Oh crap,” Kyle mutters to himself and can see Will nod in agreement from the corner of his eye.

 

“Dad?” Ella says in surprise. “What are you doing here?” Her father glares at her and she almost cowers under his gaze.

 

“Well, imagine my surprise when I see my daughter is in the city, near to my office and doesn’t let me know,” he says evenly, the tone of his voice not indicating any of the fury his face was betraying.

 

“How did you know I was here – oh…” she says and quickly realises the answer to her own question. Her parents had insisted on the installation of a tracking app on her phone so that they would know she was safe when she was going out.

 

“So I come down to see her and look who I should see her with!” the man continues and his eyes flick over to Kyle with a look of disgust in them. “The man who is meant to be in love with my son! And he’s with another man as well!” he finishes, insinuation thick in his voice.

 

“Hey, hey, hey, come on Bob,” Will pipes up and looks at the man in front of him. “You’ve known me longer than you’ve known Kyle, and you know that a, I don’t swing that way and b, you’re being way out of line here,” he tells the South African evenly, his normal Will calm taking over.

 

“Well, obviously he’s here to try and have another shot at my little girl then!” he hisses at Kyle triumphantly, and Kyle rolls his eyes at him and shakes his head pityingly.

 

“Nothing happened dad! God!” Ella tells him exasperatedly, but trying so hard not to cause any more of a scene. She glances over at her friend who is transfixed with the scenario playing out in front of her. Mr Smith looks accusingly at Kyle who has sat quite silently in the corner during the entire interaction.

 

“Why do my children protect you so much?” he says through gritted teeth and Kyle snaps, and looks directly at the man in front of him.

 

“Maybe because nothing actually happened! My God, I thought my family was bad! I did nothing with Ella, I have never cheated on your son, and I assume you think all those rumours were true as well? Well they fucking weren’t!” Kyle stresses to the man and releases a deep breath. “Mate, you have to trust your kids!”

 

“I am not your ‘mate’,” Mr Smith replies to him and both of the band members roll their eyes at the comment.

 

“Dad, seriously stop being such an idiot!” Ella says to him. “Go back to work, and then go home and calm down. I’m not coming home tonight, I’ll ring mum and tell her,” she says to her dad, and everyone at the table can hear the disappointment in her voice.

 

“What do you mean?” he asks her, now worried.

 

“I need space and you need to calm down so I’ll stay in town tonight,” she explains. She looks over at Kyle, “can I stay with you and Dan tonight?”

 

“On the sofa?” Kyle asks and she nods at him, both of them making sure the patriarch is listening. “Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem. Hope you like cats,” he adds.

 

All four of them look at Mr Smith with a look of expectation on their faces, wondering if he would just drag Ella out of the café with him, or whether he would allow her to stay. For a fraction of a second he looks as if he would frog march the girl out of there, but he glances around and sees there is now a lot of attention on the scene being made and he seems to change his mind.

 

“We _will_ talk about this when you get home young lady,” he hisses at her and shoots a filthy look at Kyle before storming out of the building.

 

“Great, well that’s my fill of drama for the day,” Kyle announces to the table after a few minutes of shocked silence.

 

“Yeah, sure,” Will scoffs in reply, and Kyle just looks at him for a second before capitulating.

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he says to him and shrugs. “Well, seeing as your now our problem for the night, we better go back and tell your brother,” he tells the teenager.

 

“Can Maison come too?” Ella asks him. Looking at the friend he just nods in agreement and they all stand up to leave.

 

\---

“OK, guys, this is a professional place alright so you can’t muck around when we get in yeah?” Will announces as they get out the taxi and walk into the studio building. He earns himself a strange look from Kyle at the announcement.

 

“Why did you never tell me that when I first walked in?” He asks, seriously.

 

“Because, mate, you were a lost cause from the start, but Dan didn’t want to let you go anywhere,” Will jokes back to him and he can see Kyle’s shoulders shake gently as he chuckles to himself.

 

“Really?” Ella asks, not getting the sarcasm from Will’s gentle delivery.

 

“Oh, yeah, we tried hosting an intervention and everything,” Will continues, his face serene and the picture of sincerity. Kyle watches the girls look at each other in awe and mouth ‘ _oh my God’_ , and he swats Will on the back.

 

“Dude, stop, they’re beginning to believe you!” he admonishes as the walk up the stairs.  Will just gives him a sly look back as he opens the stair door onto their floor and raises an eyebrow. Kyle looks at him suspiciously.

 

“Dude. Stop. I’m starting to believe you,” he says, worrying all of a sudden. Will guffaws as he stops at the door and opens it.

 

The four of them walk into some sort of war zone. There’s shouting, music being played and papers all over the floor. Will and Kyle come to an abrupt stop in the doorway and the two teenagers collide with the back of them.

 

Kyle’s eye sweep around the room and can’t see Dan, Jools, Kate or Coop anywhere, so the noise is all being made by the other people they had left there earlier. Charlie and Woody are arguing about what would make a better projectile when thrown into the audience at a gig, Sharon is pressing random keys on the piano and proving that singing is possibly the only musical gift she has.

 

Will walks over and takes the mix of drumsticks and clothing out of the hands of the fighting members and just gives them a stern look, causing them to immediately stop arguing. Realising that Kyle and Will were back, Sharon also stops what she is doing and puts the cover back over the keys on the piano and looks a bit sheepishly at the men.

 

Sharon then looks behind them and sees Ella and Maison standing there and she rushes over immediately to say hello to her friend and hug. There’s screaming and introductions between the three of them and they head into an empty-ish corner of the room to talk.

 

“Where’s everyone else?” Kyle asks, looking around the room again, and Woody points towards the booth. Kyle can just make them out in the darkness of the booth and the light coming from the main room, through the glass. “What they doing?” he asks the drummer, and Woody shrugs at him.

 

“Something about the email that came through from the Manchester gig. Jools read it, showed it to Dan who then stormed into there and they’ve been there about twenty minutes now.”

 

“Oooh-kay,” Kyle says, trying to gauge his boyfriend’s temperament through the glass and darkness. He looks at Charlie and Woody who are watching him intently.

 

“Mate, we aren’t going in there until you’ve been in,” Charlie says to him.

 

“He’s that bad?” Kyle asks, incredulous.

 

“Last time I saw him that bad was when…y’know…” Woody says and imperceptibly nods his head towards Sharon in the corner.

 

“Was when?” Charlie asks, oblivious.

 

“Never mind, Charlo. Alright…cool…coolcoolcool,” Kyle mutters to himself and steals himself for a fight.

 

He walks up the closed door and knocks on it gently before opening it and walking in. Dan, Coop and Jools all look up at him as he walks through the door and immediately stop what they’re talking about.

 

“Guys, we’re back and the kids were getting bored,” Kyle announces as he watches them all stare back. “What’s going on?”

 

“Dan’s having a paddy over what he’s been asked to do for this charity thing and me and Paul are trying to calm him down,” Jools explains, giving an annoyed look at the singer.

 

“I’m not doing it!” Dan exclaims to the rest of them, forcefully and seemingly finally.

 

“Danny, come on,” Coop says to him. “It’s not a bad thing. Annoying as hell, but if they butcher it everyone’s gonna forget about it soon after.”

 

“Hang on, what are we talking about here?” Kyle asks again, and Jools wrenches his phone out of his hand and hands it to his partner to look at the email.

 

_Hi Jools,_

_Was really good chatting to you the other day about getting Bastille on the line up for the Manchester event. Attached is the contract, dates, times and other acts on the line up._

_Because this is a charity event, the organisers have decided to have a little fun with the acts. Each act is to have four tracks prepared for their segment. HOWEVER, only one of them is to be theirs!_

_For their track listing they should have:_

  * _One of their own tracks_
  * _One track of anyone of their choosing_
  * _One track of another of the artists on the line-up_
  * _One track completely different to their own music genre_



_For the track of another artist we have all drawn the names and songs out of a hat. Bastille has drawn Olly Murs and Up (music, track and lyrics also attached). Just so the guys are aware, Pompeii was drawn for Little Mix and they would like a backing track with certain specifications to their own tastes if possible?_

_Look forward to hearing from you soon,_

_Caroline Goodson_

_Event Organiser_

Kyle pulls a face and grimaces slightly after reading the entire email, and hands the phone back over to Dan. All three people in the room look at him as if he can solve the problem.

 

“Well, I can see your dilemma,” he finally says, trying to be as tactful as possible.

 

“See!” Dan says loudly and throws his hands up in frustration.

 

“Woah, he never said he agreed with you Dan!” Jools says quickly, and Kyle’s head shoots up to give her the evil eye and a head shake telling her to shut up.

 

“Look, why don’t you guys come out of this dark little hole, move into somewhere with a bit more light and space, and maybe discuss it with everyone?” Kyle says slowly.

 

Everyone agrees with sighs and head nods and the three of them start to file out of the room and start a full discussion with the group.

 

“Except for you,” Kyle adds quickly as Dan passes and he grabs him by the upper arm and pulls him back in front of him, shutting the door behind him.

 

“Kyle, _what_?” Dan growls at him angrily, and receives a raised eyebrow in return. “Sorry,” he adds.

 

Kyle catches Jools’ eye through the window and gives her a small nod to start the discussion without them. He knew that if Dan was there he would grump and moan until they agreed with him out of sheer frustration, and if he was serious about the full collaboration he promised Will he would need to take a bit of a step back.

 

“We need to talk about where I’ve just been,” Kyle says to him. Dan rolls his eyes and looks straight at him.

 

“Seriously? This is a conversation we need to have right now?” Dan asks, contempt dripping from every word.

 

“Yes, _Daniel_ , it is!” Kyle replied in exactly the same tone. “I met up with Ella,” he tells him and Dan’s mouth drops open.

 

“Without me?” he says.

 

“She text this morning, that’s why I took Will in case someone saw and said something,” Kyle explains and he can see Dan’s thought process. His face goes still and he takes that as acceptance that he had done the right thing. “Your dad turned up and had a bit of a go at everyone – including Will – and Ella asked if she could stay with us tonight.”

 

“You told her yes right?” Dan asks, worried.

 

“I’m not an idiot, no matter what you all think of me,” Kyle jokes. “Of course I said yes! That’s why I’m telling you now, she’s out there.” And Dan squeezes past him to see his little sister and a girl he didn’t recognise look a little lost in the crowd.

 

Dan rushes past his fiancé and pulls the door open and rushes out to attack his sister with a bear hug, who promptly screams with the fright she gets.

 

“Bloody hell Dan!” she shouts at him, and nearly everyone in the room laughs at her.

 

“I never get that kind of welcome,” Kyle mutters good naturedly behind them.

 

“Bullshit,” Ella says from over Dan’s shoulder. “I’ve got photos from Heathrow,” she threatens and Kyle blushes quickly and goes to busy himself elsewhere in the room.

 

The room settles down and Dan introduces his sister to Jools and Coop who then introduces Maison to the rest of the men there. Finally, all with a seat or on the floor, they start to discuss the email.

 

“Mate, I can see why you don’t want to do it,” Woody says to him, “but it’s one song, and we can try and see them to talk it through with them and make sure they don’t murder it.”

 

“And it’s good publicity,” Sharon adds in. “It’s for a good cause?”

 

“And they aren’t that bad,” Maison chimes in and that comment gets quickly dismissed from the singer.

 

Dan looks over at Kyle. The only person he wanted an opinion from hadn’t yet voiced one and he catches his eye as he tries to pick at a piece of fraying carpet on the floor.

 

“I don’t know Dan,” Kyle says simply. “I suppose it won’t be any different than the shit Karaoke we have to sit through on tour,” he adds. “And it is good publicity.”

 

Dan looks into his eyes intently for a moment, before clearing his throat. “Aright,” he says. “But I want to meet them here before we go on tour, I want to talk to them and _we_ record the backing track,” he rules finally.

 

All agreed, Jools pulls out an iPad and types an email back to the organiser.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed. Constructive criticism and comments always enjoyed and appreciated : ) xx


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

The next couple of days go by without incident. Ella managed to relax from the tense atmosphere of her parent’s house and went home the following morning in time for her afternoon college courses. Jools managed to get in touch with all of the venues that they had wanted to book and had confirmed all of them. They now had a week left to get ready for their first date.

 

It had been decided they would be doing seven venues in ten days, working up through England, doing one date in Edinburgh and then hitting Newcastle and finally Manchester. Waking up on the Friday morning, Dan knew that the tour posters would be ready, rushed through by their usual company and they would be receiving the digital file that day.

 

Dan woke up alone in the bed that morning, and he was upset to feel the bed next to him was cold, meaning Kyle had been up for a while. He checks the time and sees it’s turning ten, but he doesn’t have the burning desire to go back to sleep. He rolls out of bed, puts his glasses on and wanders through into the living area in just his boxers he had slept in the previous night.

 

As he walks through he yawns loudly and runs a hand through his messy dark hair. He sees Kyle standing at the small island that tried to separate the lounge from the kitchen. He’s wearing very old jogging bottoms and an oversized t-shirt and he’s looking confused at something in front of him. He walks over to him, runs his hands around his middle and hooks his chin over the younger man’s shoulder, trying to see what he’s looking at. Still not able to see, he rolls his head onto its side and kisses Kyle’s cheek to get his attention.

 

“What?” Kyle asks him and lays his own head on its side to cover Dan’s, but still flicking through whatever magazine he was reading.

 

“I need to write set lists today,” Dan replies.

 

“No, you _need_ to do publicity today…you _want_ to do set lists today,” Kyle corrects him, and he slides his half-drunk cup of coffee over to his partner.

 

Instead of picking it up and draining it like he does every other morning, Dan suddenly grips hold of Kyle’s waist hard and turns him round so his back is against the island. He places his hands either side of Kyle and brackets him in place.

 

“Hi Dan,” Kyle says softly, after catching his breath, and finding Dan now nose to nose with him.

 

“You were ignoring me,” Dan accuses him and tilts his head to the side slightly, a note of feigned disappointment in his voice.

 

“That was bad of me,” Kyle says to him, sarcasm clear him his tone.

 

“Yup,” Dan says, popping the ‘p’ before claiming the man’s mouth with his own, alternating between soft, playful kisses and hard, sensual ones before licking Kyle’s mouth opening and allowing tongue to finally meet tongue.

 

Kyle pulls away from the singer first, causing Dan to groan loudly with the loss of the heat and leaving him clearly half hard in his flimsy boxers.

 

“Busy day baby,” Kyle tells him quietly, before nipping at his jaw and kissing under his ear, sucking a hard mark there, which would clearly be visible for a couple of days.

 

‘Falling’ starts playing from the bedroom, and Kyle shudders at the music.

 

“I’m serious Dan, please change that!” he pleads and Dan laughs as he runs into the bedroom to answer his phone.

 

Kyle looks back down at the Lakeland magazine he was looking at, trying to decide whether they really needed a candy floss machine or a proper popcorn maker when he hears a frustrated cry come from the bedroom.

 

“You alright?” Kyle calls out as he quickly gets to the room with his partner in. He sees the Game Boy case on the bed and looks u at Dan’s face to see he was looking considerably more pissed off than he had been mere moments before.

 

“The only day they can do before we go is today,” he tells him sullenly. Kyle realises he means the dreaded meeting with the girl group.

 

“Ah,” is all Kyle can say to him. “What time?”

 

“This afternoon, so it’s gonna be a long night,” Dan tells him, meaning that he’s going to be working on recording this backing track until it’s finished for them. Kyle walks over to him and hugs him tightly.

 

“Let’s get dressed and get going then,” Kyle says to him, and Dan looks at him surprised. “What? I’m not gonna miss this for the world!”

 

\---

The men arrive at the studio before anyone else and have brought everyone coffee for when they eventually arrive. They both go into the booth where they each grab a seat and Dan turns on the Mac to check his emails.

 

He had seen that the digital file had been delivered and the first thing he needed to do was proof it before he released it. He checks the dates and the venues and automatically posts it to twitter for his followers. Next he forwards the file to Jools for her to update all the necessary outlets and other social media as she sees fit.

 

“You gonna post this?” He asks, turning to Kyle, who just looks back at him and shrugs.

 

“I suppose. It’ll be the first thing in a while so…” he trails off. “Oh, fuck it, yeah, I’ll retweet it,” he tells him and pulls his phone out to load up the app.

 

Once he had had done that and quickly replied to a couple of messages he had sitting on his feed, he turns his phone off and walks towards his synths which had been set up the day before. Kyle knew that Dan would be busy writing lists for Jools to do that day, so he had some time to do what he wanted.

 

He turns the instrument on and selects a few buttons, before starting to play. He starts to play the ‘War of the Worlds’ soundtrack, mixing harmonies and layering different instrumental parts before looking up and realising Jools is staring at him with an open mouth. She hadn’t been lying when she said she had never seen Kyle play at that first meeting with Dan, so this would be the first time. Kyle stops playing and stares at her.

 

“What?” He asks, bemused.

 

“Nothing! No…I just didn’t realise you could actually do that,” she says to him and Kyle looks at her in disbelief.

 

“Did you honestly think we kept him around for his winning personality and looks?” comes a voice from behind her and Kyle sees Woody coming in and throwing a backpack down on the floor in the corner.

 

“Thanks man,” he calls to him and gets a half salute in reply.

 

Dan walks out of the booth and touches Jools on the elbow to get her attention, and she gets the message that he wants her to follow him.

 

“I’ve sent you some emails for things to do while we deal with all this crap this afternoon,” he tells her. “I need to you to make some calls to the head office of the Bauer City radio network, we’ll give them some tickets for the gigs in each of the venues and they can give them away alright? And I’ve got a phone call with Radio One in,” he looks at his watch, “ten minutes, so I need to get off and do that,” he tells her and she nods at him. He starts to walk towards the door of the studio, but is stopped by Kyle shouting after him.

 

“Can I come and listen?” he says cheekily.

 

“No! You’ll make me laugh or swear or something, and I’m a damn professional for god’s sake!”

 

“Have you spoken to people about these delusional thoughts of yours Dan?” Woody asks him from his drum kit.

 

“Dan, with these tickets am I offering meet and greets for the winners too?” Jools says, coming out of the booth before he pulls the handle of the door.

 

“Uhm, yeah that’s a good idea” Dan says to her and she nods.

 

“Don’t you want to discuss it with the others?” she asks him and he just shakes his head.

 

“Nah, they’ll be cool with it,” he says and disappears through the door with Woody staring open mouthed after him and Kyle literally face palming as he goes.

 

\---

Dan’s gone for about 40 minutes and when he returns Will has arrived and they just have to wait for the girls to arrive. Jools calls Dan into the booth to tell him what she had done while he’d been away, when there is a knock at the door and Will moves over to answer it.

 

On the other side is the girl from the reception desk with a giddy smile on her face, and she is hopping from leg to leg as if she is about to pee herself. Will smiles at her expectantly.

 

“Hi, uhm, I brought your visitors up, instead of asking you to come down and get them, here you go,” she says and scuttles away excitedly, pulling her mobile out of her back pocket as she goes and giggling to herself.

 

Kyle watches Will shake his head as he watches her go, and then four girls walk through the open door into the studio. Kyle immediately recognises them as the girls of Little Mix, and they saunter in as if they own the place.

 

All four girls looked younger than their mid-twenties ages and Kyle supposed that is what was the appeal for the teenagers and kids which made up their fan base. They were all wearing light blue skinny jeans with trainers on, but they all had skimpy crop tops on, which showed off more of their bodies that seemed suitable for the weather outside. Kyle looks down quickly at his own grey sweater and the around at the rest of the guys who were wearing some of their oldest and most worn clothes and laughs to himself.

 

Dan walks through when he realises that the girls have arrived and walks up to them with his hand out.

 

“Hi, I’m Dan,” he says to them with a polite half smile and he waits for each of them to introduce themselves. All the girls do is giggle helplessly and shake his hand one by one. Dan glances over at Kyle with wide eyes and Kyle just shrugs his shoulders. He has no idea who any of them are any more than the rest of them. “And you are?” he prompts them, and the giggling stops abruptly as they look at him disdainfully.

 

“He knows you’re Little Mix,” Will steps in diplomatically, “but he means like individual names and stuff,” he laughs lightly trying to make a joke of it, and the darker skinned girl of the group looks at him and her entire demeanour changes to a flirty minx.

 

“Well, I’m Leigh-Anne,” she says and seductively flicks her long dark hair over one of her shoulders and purrs at Will, “this is Perrie,” she says and points at the pretty blonde haired girl next to her who waves lightly, “Jade, and that over there is Jesy,” she finishes and the one called Jesy clearly looks less that impressed at being left til last.

 

Kyle watches the last girl and catches her eye by mistake and she starts to sidle up to him. He feels his eyes getting wider than saucers and not so subtly moves away from the girls and sits himself on the piano bench, crossing his legs underneath himself so no one could joint him.

 

“Well that’s Woody at the drums, the one hiding behind the piano is Kyle and I’m Will,” the bassist explains to the girls and Leigh-Anne gets closer to him and starts to smile wider.

 

“So, anyway,” Dan interrupts, “We understand that you want to change the song slightly and we’re gonna do the backing track for you, and take you through the song?”

 

Jesy diverts her eyes from Kyle, who breathes a heavy sigh of relief and feels a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Woody smirking at him, and tilting his head towards Dan as the oldest girl starts to hone her feminine wiles in on his fiancé. To Kyle it looked like they were children in a sweet shop and they couldn’t decide which of the men to flirt with first.

 

“Well, we want the song to be a bit faster, and about an octave and a half higher maybe?” the girl says in an affected Essex accent and Kyle watches Dan roll his eyes from behind his thick framed glasses and he stifles a laugh unsuccessfully which earns a glare from both singers. “We’re also waiting for our choreographer so he can hear the song…”

 

Suddenly Kyle can’t keep in anymore and as he watches the man he loves get more and more frustrated without the girls noticing he just explodes with laughter. Dan shoots him an evil look and the girls look at him with confusion.

 

“KYLE!” Dan shouts, “Jools is shouting for you,” he says angrily, and Kyle looks at him, still with a smirk on his face.

 

“I didn’t hear anything,” Kyle retorts and smiles wider, eyes never leaving Dan’s.

 

“Dude, get in the booth,” Dan shouts at him, and Kyle stands and sidles over to the booth to see his best friend.

 

“You’re in trouble,” Jools sing songs to him, and Kyle pushes her away.

 

“Dude! Choreographer,” he whispers at her and laughs again.

 

“Alright,” Dan says frustrated. “Let’s get this started.”


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Kyle stayed sitting in the booth next to Jools and watched the craziness unfold in front of him. Dan eventually sits himself down at the piano to play out the music for Pompeii at its normal tempo and key and the girls try and sing along, but it was obvious to every in the room – including Jools – that this was wrong for their voices.

 

Dan speeds the song up and improvises with the key changing and it automatically sounds 100% better. Lazing over the desk in front of him with his head resting on his hand, Kyle watches the oldest of the girls inch closer to his fiancé and then put both hands on his shoulders before resting her own chin on top of Dan’s hair and he scoffs at the scene. He can see Dan, even from this distance, turn more and more red with embarrassment and try to move his head so he is free from her.

 

“So, uhm, yeah, alright,” he stutters quickly, and Kyle finds him so adorable when he’s flustered that he doesn’t even want to go and save him from them.

 

“Oh, you’re so cute!” one of the blonde’s cries out to him as if she’s reading Kyle’s mind, and plonks herself down next to him. “Oh my gosh! Girls look!” she then shouts and points to where Kyle knows he left his mark that morning, and watches as Dan tries to hush them up and blame walking into something for the bruise.

 

“What are they looking at?” Jools asks Kyle.

 

“Love bite I gave him this morning,” Kyle giggles back.

 

“You’re a sadist do you know that?” Jools whispers to him without even looking up from the computer, and Kyle just cocks an eyebrow at her.

 

“Alright!” Dan announces loudly as he stands up and removes himself from the crowd of girls. “Well, uh, you guys can go now, and we can get that all recorded for you…” Dan tries to get the girls out of the studio quickly.

 

“Oh!” Leigh Anne says quickly. “But we need Nicky to hear it so he can organise our routine for it!”

 

“Nicky?” Dan asks, confused.

 

“CHOREOGRAPHER!” Kyle shouts from the booth with a smile and gets the finger right back at him from the singer.

 

“Oh, oh right then, well why don’t you go and have a break and find out where he is and we’ll get set up so he can hear what it’ll eventually sound like?” Dan says to them.

 

“Yeah, why don’t me and Jools take you to the coffee shop down the road?” Woody offers. All the girls look at the drummer slightly disappointed it wasn’t Dan offering, and Leigh Anne throws a longing glance at Will that doesn’t go unnoticed from the joker in the booth. They do take him up on the offer though and the 6 of them all troop out of the door, leaving just Dan and Will in the studio proper and Kyle watching from behind the window.

 

Dan immediately twirls around as soon as the door has shut and points accusingly through the window.

 

“YOU ARE A TOTAL _WANKER_ SIMMONS!” he shouts through the glass at his partner, and watches Kyle laugh loudly and clap his hands in glee. Behind Dan, Kyle can also see Will trying to hide a laugh over everything that had happened in the last hour and a half.

 

“I knew I didn’t want to miss this!” he manages to gasp out between breaths. “And there’s gonna be dancing! I can’t actually wait for the dancing!” Kyle exclaims.

 

“Will you get out here and make yourself useful?” Dan demands from him as he starts to move seats around and put the correct instruments out to use when everyone gets back.

 

Kyle gets out of his seat and walks casually through to the other two men. He glances at Will guiltily and then walk behind Dan and wraps his arms around him.

 

“Kyle, keyboards. Set up. Now,” is all he gets in response. Pouting, the man lets go of him and walks over to the boards to make sure they can be used properly with everything else in the room. He pushes the piano into the corner of the room where it is out of the way, and moves the keys into its place.

 

“God, just trying to have some fun with my fiancé…bloody killjoy,” he mutters as he potters around. Hearing what Kyle says, Will looks up quickly from where he is tuning up his bass and stares with an open mouth at the men.

 

“What?” He asks finally when he sees neither of them are paying him any attention. Both Kyle and Dan look up at him with a confused look on their faces.

 

“Huh?” Dan and Kyle say at the same time, neither seemingly aware of what Kyle had been saying as he was working away.

 

“Fiancé?” Will asks slowly, as if he’s talking to toddlers. “Kyle just said fiancé…thought you guys said you weren’t there yet?”

 

“Oh,” Dan says quietly and glares at Kyle. “We weren’t going to say anything til after Manchester. But, Kyle proposed and I said yes.”

 

“Are you kidding?” Will says seriously. Dan and Kyle both look at him, thinking he’s going to be really angry with them. “That’s fucking fantastic guys! Congratulations!” He exclaims and rushes over first to Dan and then Kyle to give them huge sweeping hugs.

 

“What’s fantastic?” comes Woody’s voice from the door, and everyone looks up to just see the drummer standing there. “It’s fine, the girls are downstairs having a fag and waiting for ‘Nicky’” he tells them.

 

“Kyle and Dan are engaged mate!” Will tells him excitedly, and is met with a beaming smile from the drummer.

 

“Oh guys, thank god!” He says and gives the same sweeping hug to them both that Will did. “This is brilliant for you two, but it should calm a lot of crap down as well! When are you gonna tell everyone else?” He asks them and Dan and Kyle just look at each other. Kyle gives a small shrug and defers to the singer for an answer.

 

“We weren’t gonna say anything for a while, so can we keep it between us just now?” Dan asks and the other two just nod and smile.

 

“Aw it’s like the old days again,” Woody laments fondly. “Just the four musketeers…”

 

“Pretty sure there were only three of them Wood,” Kyle tells him.

 

“Cool, we’ll get rid of Kyle then,” he shoots back, and Kyle pulls a face at him and sticks his tongue out.

 

“Real mature Kyle,” Woody says to him.

 

“ _Real mature, Kyle,”_ Kyle mimics back and the door opens to interrupt the childish game.

 

The four girls of the girl group, Jools and a man in workout lycra walk in through the doorway chatting away to each other. The assistant walks back into the booth and shuts the door behind her, clearly exhausted from the constant chatter of the girls.

 

“OK, so this is out choreographer Nicky,” Jesy introduces to them all.

 

Dan takes stock of the man who was going to interpret his most successful song into a dance number. He was maybe in his early thirties, like himself, but was extremely buff and fit. He was taller than Kyle, had artificially bronzed skin and spiked black hair.

 

“Hiiiii!” he drawls in a clearly fake American accent. “So, let’s do this thing then! Let’s listen to this new masterpiece!”

 

Kyle puts his hand out to catch Dan’s wrist and stop him from storming over to the man and physically manhandling him out of the door.

 

“Alright then guys,” Dan says, trying to ignore the man and talking to his own band. “Ky can you do the keys? I’ll count the girls in and make sure they have their timings,” he asks and Kyle gives him a small smile, before cupping the back of his neck and pulling him in for a small chaste kiss.

 

“For luck,” he whispers in his ear and winks at him.

 

“Oh my god!”

 

“All the hot ones are gay!”

 

“Dammit!”

 

Comes the noises from the girls in the corner of the room, where Dan has put some chairs for them, and Dan walks over to them with a small smile on his face himself.

 

Dan counts the girls in for the opening words of the song and Kyle starts playing his part faster and higher than he normally does. Finally, Woody joins with in and Will as well. They all desperately try not to pay any attention to the flamboyant dancing coming for the man in very tight clothes in front of them.

 

At one point the man bends almost in half directly in front of Will and Kyle looks over at him to see his eyes widen completely and try and turn away, but his bass was in the way so he just ends up almost knocking Woody’s cymbal over and causing even more problems.

 

Eventually making it to the end of the song with no more mishaps, the band makes no sound and the girls looks at each other and high five themselves.

 

“So is that all good then?” Dan asks them and looks at Nicky as well.

 

“Yeah, man, I can definitely make something good of all that dude!” he says with the same fake accent.

 

“Thanks Dan for your time!” one of the girls says to him and they all hug him one by one, taking their sheet of lyrics with them.

 

“No problem. I’ll get this recorded tonight and send it to your manager when it’s ready?” he asks them and they all nod. “Do you have his email?”

 

“Oh, we’ll give you his card when he gets here, he’s picking us up to take us to a club gig tonight,” they tell him and at that second there’s a heavy knock on the door. “Oh, that must be him,” the taller blonde says to him and walks over to open the door. Dan watches her give the person on the other side of the door a half hug and kiss him on the cheek and then pulled the door wide for the person to walk through.

 

Striding through the door in front of them all, came a familiar tall and wide figure. The four men look shocked to see him and no one says anything as they take in his memorable goatee beard and red face from the exercise up the stairs.

 

Before any of the men can say anything, the man opens his mouth and looks directly at Dan.

 

“Good to see you again, Dan. It’s good to be back in your studio,” and Dave gives a sly wink and smirk at the singer’s obvious surprise.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I completely forgot to put any links on the last chapter!! D'oh!
> 
> So, Lakeland is a random catalogue company and shop selling things you never knew you needed until you walk in there - http://www.lakeland.co.uk/
> 
> War of the Worlds, if you don't know the name you probably know the music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eCAphdQPck
> 
> Little Mix for those of you who aren't aware (I don't like them so if you do, I apologise if I paint them in a bad light!) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBAfejjUQoA
> 
> As always, comments, criticism and Kudos welcome : ) xx


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One

The next week passes in a blur to all involved. Their first date was due on the Thursday and they were kicking off in a small gigging venue in London itself. The tickets were sold out by the Tuesday evening, which buoyed Dan’s feeling of his fan base. He had spent the rest of the week sorting out set lists and making sure all sound effects, videos and extras were all ready to be used. Since Warmth had been corrupted before the Cornwall gig, he wasn’t taking anything for granted and was studiously aware of everything that was needed for the shows.

 

They had finished the backing track for the girls early in the morning of the Saturday and Dan had emailed the file over reluctantly to Dave’s email address. Kyle had been there for the duration, even though Dan was adamant he would do the keys section of the track, something that Kyle didn’t resent him for.

 

It was now the early afternoon of the Wednesday and Dan and Jools were both in the studio on their own. He had let the others take the day off to do any last pieces they needed. Woody was spending time with his wife and Will with his girlfriend. They would both be seeing them in Manchester, but the rest of the gigs were too short notice for them to join them.

 

He had left Kyle sleeping soundly in bed that morning with two cats on either side of him. He had arranged with Tasha that she or Martin would visit the flat once a day to make sure they were alright and feed them.  Because of that, he didn’t have to drag two cats across the city at the last moment to get them looked after. He supposed Kyle would be getting packed, throwing all of his t-shirts into a duffel and ready for the following day. He had mentioned something about a haircut, but Dan had been so concerned with everything coming up he hadn’t been listening.

 

“Uh, Dan,” Jools says to him, cutting through his thoughts suddenly. The man shakes himself back to the present and looks at her expectantly. “Email through from the charity. They want you guys to design a shirt for the band that you can all wear for the concert.”

 

“What? Like we don’t have anything better to do?!” he says exasperatedly. “What is it like one shirt for all of us to wear that’s the same?”

 

“No, a theme that’s the same, but each shirt can be different. Do you want me to do it?’

 

Dan thinks quickly. He knows that Will and Woody will both be out doing something exciting and wouldn’t have time to do anything. Jools could do it, but she didn’t know their aesthetic quite well enough yet, so they wouldn’t represent the band as such.

 

“No, thanks though Jools. I’ll get someone to do it,” he tells her and he grabs his phone from beside him, and hits his emergency contact.

 

_“Y’ello?”_ comes the familiar happy voice down the phone.

 

“It’s me,” Dan tells him. It’s as if he can actually hear the eye roll over the line.

 

_“Baby, you know that caller ID is a thing now right?”_ Kyle tells him and Dan thinks he can hear him stifle a yawn.

 

“Are you still in bed?” Dan demands quickly. “You are so lazy!”

 

_“You’re not the boss of me!”_ Kyle argues with him. “ _You told me I could do what I wanted today!”_

 

“Well change of plan sleepy,” Dan teases and hears him grumble. “I need you to design a t-shirt for the charity gig and make it so it represents all of us. I’ll get Jools to send you the brief.” He looks over at his assistant and she gets the idea that she is to forward it to Kyle’s email.

 

_“So what don’t you want me to put on it?”_ Kyle asks after a minute, obviously looking at the email he will have received.

 

“Ky, I don’t care. Do what you want, you know what we’ll like,” Dan tells him, distracted as he sees Jools is answering her own phone and looking confused.

 

_“You’re giving **me** free reign with this?”_ Kyle clarifies, making sure he has heard correctly.

 

“Yeah, babe, go wild,” Dan says as Jools looks at him clearly wanting to ask a question. If he had been listening more closely, he would have heard the joy and excitement in the younger man’s voice as they both said goodbye and hung up. “What’s up Jools?”

 

“Kate wants to know where and when to meet tomorrow?” She says to him, putting her hand over the microphone of the handset so she can talk to him.

 

“We’ll be sound checking at about 4pm. She can meet us there just before then?” Dan tells her and she relays the message to the journalist.

 

\---

Dan gets home late and brings home take away for him and Kyle to share. He walks in to see the pile of bags next to the door that Kyle had obviously been packing up for them both. He throws the plastic bag on the island and pulls his jacket off before throwing it onto the sofa.

 

“Kyle?” he shouts, not seeing him anywhere. Suddenly, the man appears at the doorway of the bedroom. He’s wearing only his grey jogging bottoms and he’s clearly just had a shower, with his hair still wet and some water droplets on his naked torso. Dan licks his lower lip at the sight and tries to focus on opening the plastic bag full of Chinese in front of him.

 

Kyle walks over to him and stands behind him at the island to watch what he was doing.

 

“Mmhmm?” he says directly into Dan’s ear, and he can’t stop the shiver that goes down his spine as he feels the facial hair brush against the shell of his ear. Suddenly two strong arms grab around his waist and pulls him flush against the lean man behind him. Dan gasps at the contact and moans loudly as Kyle grinds against his ass, rubbing his hard dick against the other man’s backside.

 

Dan could feel his own cock slowly filling up and getting half hard purely at the words and movements of Kyle, and as soon as he felt the other’s arousal he became fully hard. Kyle moves his hand down over Dan’s clothed prick and felt the hardness there. He presses down firmly to give the older man more friction as he grinds away behind him. Dan whimpers at the touch and starts to plead for more.

 

Kyle starts nipping at his neck – gently so as not to leave any tell-tale marks for the upcoming performances – and licking downwards towards the collar of Dan’s t-shirt. Dan tries to turn around to get more of him, but Kyle’s lean arms keep him in place. Kyle’s hands speed up and start cupping at the front of Dan’s jeans faster as he ruts quicker behind him.

 

“You left me all alone today,” Kyle growls into his ear. “God, you feel so good!”

 

Dan can’t form words as the younger man speeds up faster and faster and he can feel his release racing towards him as Kyle starts moaning behind him. As soon as he feels the man behind him still and groan as he comes, he releases his own excitement and spills into his own boxers.

 

They both groan together and lean against each other as their legs start to feel weak. Kyle finally lets Dan turn around and look at him. He looks up into the brown eyes of his best friend and leans forward to kiss him slowly and softly.

 

As the pull away and lean their foreheads against each other, Kyle places a tiny kiss on the tip of Dan’s nose.

 

“I bought food home,” he tells his fiancé and Kyle looks directly at him.

 

“I think that’s gonna have to wait don’t you?” he asks him and pulls him back into the shower with him.

 

Kyle puts the water on and as he waits for it to heat up he undressed Dan slowly and sensually, but not with anything in mind other than taking care of him. Dan lets him, and Kyle can see he is dead on his feet from the constant work he had been doing.

 

Making sure the water was a decent temperature, he pulled Dan in and gently lathered him in shower gel and then used his hands to agitate the gel into soap suds and clean all of his lover thoroughly. He pays close attention to his balls and groin, but doesn’t tease or hope for it to fill again. He quickly cleans himself afterwards and then turns the faucet off and pulls a large bath sheet into the cubicle to dry the majority of wetness off Dan before wrapping him in the fabric.

 

Kyle towels himself off in a rush and pulls his pyjama bottoms from the end of the bed. Walking his partner through into the bedroom he pulls the duvet back and makes Dan sit down in the bed before tucking him in securely.

 

“Ky?” He starts to say, but Kyle just puts a finger to Dan’s lips to stop him from talking.

 

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Kyle tells him and Dan watches as he walks out of the door.

 

Not even five minutes passes when Kyle strolls back into the room with a plate, fork and all of the food he had bought on top of it. He had prepared the plate exactly as Dan likes it and he presented it to him with a low bow. Dan gives him a shy smile and gratefully accepts the plate from him before placing it on his lap. He then watches Kyle reach behind his back and pull a can of diet coke out of the waistband of his trousers.

 

Dan reaches out to grab the can from him, but he catches his left hand and puts the can down on the bedside table next to him. Kyle looks down at the confusion on Dan’s face as he starts to caress each finger individually.

 

“Fun fact,” Kyle says to him as if he’s trying to give him the weather forecast for the following day. “When I was getting this for you,” and his fingers still over the ring on his middle finger, and pulls it off the digit, “it turns out that this finger, and this finger,” he moves onto the fourth finger of the left hand, “are almost exactly the same size…”

 

Dan watches as Kyle drops to one knee in front of him and grabs his left hand even tighter. He is entranced as he watches the ring he thought was especially for the middle finger on his left hand slide seamlessly and with no resistance onto his ring finger. He then notices that the fit is actually better than it had been before.

 

“Are you saying I have been wearing my own engagement ring for months now?” he says to Kyle incredulously and he is met with two eyebrows quickly raising in front of him and a small smile.

 

“Was that OK?” Kyle asks him, and Dan can see that he is worried that Dan will be upset with the whole thing.

 

“OK?” Dan asks him. “Do you know you still surprise me after all these years? I love you so much!” and he uses his caught hand to pull the man towards him and seal the engagement with a slow, luxurious kiss.

 

\---

The following day the men turned up first to the venue they were going to be playing that night. They had managed to fit in at short notice to the O2 Empire in Sheppard’s Bush, and then immediately after the gig they were driving to the next venue which would be Leeds. They had managed to get all of their bags into a taxi and to the venue so that they could just throw it onto the bus when it arrived.

 

As it turned out the bus was there before anyone else. They were informed by the security guard at the Empire and directed around the bac to where it was waiting for them. Dan introduced himself to the driver and he signed the paper needed before he called Kyle over to help move their bags into it.

 

They had managed to get one of the larger buses as they had a number of people to drag around with them for the short tour. As they loaded onto the large anonymous black bus with tinted windows, the walk into a large lounging area downstairs, with u-shaped sofas and a small kitchenette. In the middle of the bus was a flight of stairs upstairs to the berths and another lounging area that could be turned into more sleeping spaces.

 

The men walk up the stairs to check out the size of the bunks and realise they are the normal single man size and share a look when they realise they won’t be able to sleep together. They throw their hand luggage onto the beds they wanted and then walked back downstairs to wait for the others.

 

Jools arrives next and is dumbstruck with the size of the bus and she looked quite nervous about what was about to happen. Kyle shows her upstairs as Dan looks outside the door to see the truck pulling in and Coop jumping out of the cab. He runs out to greet him and pull him into a quick hug. The duo then walks into the venue to check out the space.

 

A couple of hours afterwards, Coop is out at the bus to see if everyone was there. He’s confronted with Jools at the door, on her phone and talking quickly at someone. He eases past her and walks in to talk the others who are all lounging on the sofa downstairs.

 

“What’s happening fellas?” he asks. “Hey Tom!” he adds when he sees the filmmaker at the back of the bus.

 

“Journalist is trying to add some provisos to the contract at the last minute and Jools is trying to sort it,” Woody yawns at him. “She wants to bring one of the juniors with her as well.”

 

“I seriously don’t see what the problem is here?” Will says to the group in general.

 

“I just don’t want anyone else here that doesn’t have to be,” Dan says to him.

 

“It’s not just up to you though Dan,” Will says to him with a tinge of frustration in his voice. “In fact, JOOLS!” Will shouts out the door and the copper headed woman’s face pops around the corner to look at him. “Tell her it’s fine, as long as the girl can sleep on a sofa.”

 

There’s silence around everyone, and even Jools doesn’t move away immediately to speak on the phone. Dan just nods at her and she escapes to tell the woman to meet them with this girl. Will gives him a look that Dan can immediately sense is one that means he is unhappy with him and he looks away quickly.

 

“Well, now that that drama’s over, guys can we sound check?” Coop asks them and they all slowly get up and meander to the main hall.

 

Dan pulls out the piece of paper with the set list on for the night and hands it over to the sound man.

 

“Here you go man,” he says and claps him on the back before jogging over to catch up with Kyle.

 

Dan does his normal spinning shot of the stage and set up before he starts to turn on instruments and make sure the acoustics are good enough for him. As he finishes, and almost topples off of the side of the stage – much to the amusement of his fiancé and bass player – he turns his phone off and watches the journalist walk through the doors with a younger girl that Dan doesn’t recognise at all.

 

“Hey everyone!” Kate shouts to everyone, and she sees Tom and moves over to him immediately to re-introduce herself. Tom has his camera with him wherever he goes anyway, and she is glad to see that he is ready for her. “This is Charlene, she is one of our interns at the magazine, and she loves you guys so pretty much begged to come along.”

 

Dan looks at the girl and she looks familiar to him but he can’t place her at all. She had long dirty blonde hair and was thin and fashionably dressed. She looked up at Dan from under long painted eyelashes and he felt a chill down his spine. Deciding to ignore the feeling, he tells everyone to set up for The Driver, a song they hadn’t done live for a while.

 

Sharon looks scared behind him and he just glances over at her.

 

“You and Charlie go over this?” He asks her quickly and she nods at him. “No problem then!” he tells her and she seems to relax slightly.

 

It went well, they went over a couple more of the songs and ran through the graphics on the screen as well. Happy with the outcome the band all head back to change. Will changes into an off white pinstriped button up linen shirt, Woody throws on a t-shirt that always keeps him cool and Dan puts on his Twin Peaks t-shirt. Kyle throws on his angry Hello Kitty t-shirt and settles down on the sofa next to Dan to cuddle until they had to be elsewhere.

 

They weren’t in the bus, but relaxing backstage in an empty room with old sofas, dressing tables and mirrors all over. The door opens and Kate and Charlene walk in with Tom.

 

“So first night then?” Kate says to them all, “Dan do you still get nervous about performing in front of everyone?”

 

“Yeah, well I suppose I just want everyone to like what we do, really. I don’t think I’ll ever say I won’t get nervous before a gig,” he tells her. He catches the younger girl gazing at him and looks away from her quickly.

 

Another woman slides into the room. Dan recognises her as the woman who had let them in earlier and shown them around. She walks over to Will and tells him something and Dan watches with intrigue as the bassist then looks directly at him.

 

“We’re doing a meet and greet?” he says loudly to the singer. “When did you tell us this?”

 

“I did didn’t I?” Dan says to him. “When I told Jools to give the tickets away? She suggested it.”

 

“Surely this was one of those things we should have talked about Dan?” Will says to him angrily.

 

“Well we have to do it now don’t we, so let’s just go and suck it up?” Dan says to him just as mad.

 

“Guys, come on,” Kyle tries to interrupt, “let’s just go and say hi to people and then we can sing?”

 

“Well you’re obviously gonna take his side aren’t you?” Will turns onto Kyle and Dan gets between them.

 

“Will, can we go for a walk and talk about this somewhere else?” He tries to ask him diplomatically, whilst giving the side eye to the journalist in the corner of the room.

 

“Fine!” he shouts at him and storms out of the room, Dan scuttling quickly behind him.

 

Kyle collapses onto the chair next to Woody and puts his head in his hands.

 

“Welcome to my life, mate,” Woody says to him as they go back to waiting.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK Peeps, don't think I need to put a link for The Driver on this but if I do let me know x


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone, been a hectic few days. Please enjoy x

Chapter Twenty Two

Will grabs Dan’s arm as soon as he walks out of the door and pulls him forcefully down the corridor that led from the lounge area to the stage. He barges through runners and backstage crew towards another doorway which leads to a large empty rehearsal space, and shoves Dan inside, slamming the door behind him.

 

“Will! What the fuck is wrong with you?” Dan shouts at him.

 

“What’s wrong with me? Putain qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec tu?” Will shouts back and in his anger slips into French to yell obscenities. Dan stills and looks at him in bewilderment.

 

“Mate, I’ve either had a stroke or you aren’t speaking English anymore,” he says to try and lighten the mood.

 

“Nope! Nuh-uh, don’t you dare try that cutesy ‘I’m so innocent’ crap with me Dan,” Will rages.

 

“Will, please mate, calm down for god’s sake!” Dan pleads with him. “Look, I’m sorry alright? I thought I had told you, really I am trying Will.”

 

Will glares at him for a few seconds. Dan can see in the set of his shoulders and the tenseness in his neck and back that this has really pissed him off, and that was before he even took into consideration the storming around the halls and shouting in French. But then as quickly as the obvious frustration had appeared, he relaxes and lets out a deep sigh.

 

“So who did you tell then?” He eventually asks the singer, and Dan stops and tries to think back to the day he decided on doing the meet and greet. He suddenly realises that Will wasn’t in the room and he mentally castigates himself for it.

 

“Woody and Ky were in the room I think?” He says to him and looks at him with a small apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry, Will,” he says again.

 

“OK, just please try harder Dan?” Will tells him with a deep breath. “It’s not like I don’t like doing it, I just hate having things sprung on me.” Dan nods and heads towards the door to pull it open.

 

“Oh…” he says, surprised that when he opens it Kate is on the other side, looking surprised and jumping slightly as she was walking past.

 

“Oh, that’s where you disappeared off to,” she says, sounding astounded that she had actually found them. “People are starting to get antsy about you guys,” she adds.

 

“We’re just coming,” Dan consoles her as they both walk out of the door and head back towards the lounge. They are met outside the lounge by a worker for the theatre looking frantically at her watch and looking around her at different people. She gasps happily when she sees the men walking towards them and she opens the door to shout at Kyle and Woody to come out and follow her.

 

Dan watches his partner walk out of the room and sees his relieved expression when he looks directly at him. Kyle throws his arm around his neck and presses a kiss to his hair as he walks past him.

 

“Better now?” He whispers, and feels a shrug under his arm.

 

“I have no fucking clue,” Dan says exasperatedly.

 

They follow the girl into the room where they will be meeting the fans, and ignore the reporter behind them frantically texting away on her mobile phone.

 

\---

They spend the next forty-five minutes sitting down behind large plastic tables in a line and smiling and chatting to the fans who had come to see them. The majority of the them were women and girls from ages of fifteen upwards, and all of them seemed to navigate towards Dan as their focal point.

 

Before the whole debacle over the summer had started, the split was pretty much between Dan and Kyle with the odd fan wanting to spend most of their time with Woody and Will, but it was noticeable that Kyle was out of favour with the fans who were visiting them that night. While none of them were vocal in their mistrust of the man, they weren’t clamoring to see him.

 

That was until one girl came in like a rocket. She was tall and slim and had long dark brown hair to her waist. She had the largest brown eyes any of them had seen and she made a beeline direct to Kyle. She immediately put an envelope directly in front of the man and leant forward so she was showing more of her chest than was absolutely necessary.

 

“Hi Kyle, oh my god, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to meet you and see you! We actually met before a year or so ago, I don’t know whether you remember or not, I mean I do cos it was one of the best days of my life…” and she eventually takes a breath and Kyle just gives one of his normal beaming smiles and looks at her.

 

“So your name is?” he asks her, and holds up a pen to see if she had anything she wanted him to sign.

 

“It’s Laura, oh my god, can I get a photo?”

 

And Kyle accommodates her request and they spend a few more minutes chatting – or more precisely Kyle listening to her talk – before the crew start to round everyone up and get them out into the crowd with the rest of the fans.

 

“Wow, stalker much?” Woody says, walking over to the keyboard player and staring at the girl leaving the room.

 

“Meh, she’s harmless,” Kyle tells him and looks down onto the table. He sees the envelope that the girl had brought with her still sitting there and he picks it up to inspect it. It had his name on the front of it, so he scrunches his nose in interest and folds it up to put in his pocket before he heads out after the rest of them and get on stage. The graphics at the back of the group start to play and they kick the show off with Warmth.

 

\---

The show goes well, no one fucks up and the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves. They escape the stage and head back into the lounge to change out of their sweaty tops and into something more suitable for the short walk to the bus.

 

Tom had captured a lot of the footage, like he normally did and was putting his camera away for the night. Jools appeared to be buzzing and talking animatedly with Sharon about how she had enjoyed the experience and the rest of the band were all trying to relax as much as they could before they would be assaulted with more screaming.

 

Knowing they were going to have to head out sooner rather than later to get up to Leeds, they all take the opportunity to use the comparably large bathroom before they are stuck in close quarters for the next few hours.

 

Once they had all gotten themselves freshened up and ready for the short trip, Dan and Kyle decide to take the lead and head out of the door first with Jools, Charlie and Sharon. Woody and Will watch them head out and stay back in the lounge with the two reporters so that there isn’t too much of a crush of people.  

 

There is silence in the room after the majority of the group have left and Will and Woody are sitting opposite each other on plastic chairs leaving the more comfortable seat for the women.

 

“So you guys must be pretty close if you tour like this all the time,” Kate says conversationally after a few minutes of nothing.

 

“Yeah, we’ve been doing this a long time, so we kind of know nearly every little thing about each other,” Woody tells her.

 

“What about you Will?” she asks, turning to the older man.

 

“Yeah, we’re like a family. We argue and get pissed off with each other, but we just enjoy what we do.”

 

“Dan and Kyle are pretty close aren’t they?” the younger girl asks them, and the men just look at her confused.

 

“Of course they are,” Will says to her. “They’re a couple, so they should be close.”

 

“Does that not make you guys wonder about…you know?”

 

There was a beat as the men expected her to finish the sentence. They look at each other and then back at the woman.

The door opens and the same girl from earlier was there telling them to follow her and get out to the bus.

 

\---

Dan was pretty much swamped with screaming girls as he exited the stage door. He did his normal waving and smiling and talked with a few of the fans standing there as he went past. Kyle waved to a few of them shouting at him as well and he noticed that the attitude towards him had changed since the concert.

 

Dan had tried to interact with the man as much as he could throughout the time on the stage and the fans had noticed that they seemed happy together.

 

They made it through the crowd quickly and onto the bus to join Jools and Sharon. Charlie had been waylaid by a few fans as well and was running behind as he was a talker. Sharon was watching him from the door of the bus with a besotted smile on her face and Kyle clapped her on the shoulder and kissed her cheek as he went past her. The crowd all gasped as they saw it, but they quickly started squealing as Charlie jumped up the stairs and gave her a scorching kiss in front of the crowd.

 

He pulls her into the bus as they wait for the rest of the group to come out and he gives Kyle a glare.

 

“Charles…can I help you with something?” Kyle says to him as he is about to head up the stairs to change into something a bit more comfortable.

 

“Seriously?” Charlie just says to him and Kyle chuckles.

 

“I can’t believe you are still upset about that tattoo,” Kyle shouts down the stairs as he climbs them.

 

“She won’t get rid of it!” Charlie shouts back.

 

“She’s standing right here!” Sharon interrupts and hears the cackle from Kyle come from the upper deck.

 

Kyle strides over to his bunk and throws himself down on it while he pulls his bag onto his lap to take out pyjamas for the night. Dan walks up the stairs after him and settles down next to him on the bed to him and bring his knees up towards his chest to hug them.

 

“Really?” He asks him watching him pull out headphones and clothes.

 

“What? I didn’t do anything! Being polite and kind to the newest member of the group,” Dan shoves him on the shoulder and they both laugh at the statement. Kyle throws his stuff to the side and pulls Dan towards him and then lies down so the older man is resting atop his body. “You did good tonight, baby,” he tells him and kisses his hair and starts to stroke it comfortingly.

 

Banging starts coming from the stairway and the long flowing locks of the drummer comes into view at the top of the stairs.

 

“Guys, any noises at all from you two and we will throw you out immediately. I don’t care if we’re in the middle of the M6, you’re going,” he tells them and points to each of them in turn.

 

Kyle expels air quickly and makes a ‘pfft’ sound indicating he was unimpressed with the threat levelled at them.

 

“Mate, you never knew in the US when we were doing anything, what makes you think you’ll know this time?”

 

“Mate, I knew,” Woody tells him.

 

“Not when we were fooling around with you in the top bunk you didn’t,” Kyle tells him with a smirk and Woody’s face gapes in horror and he puts his hands over his eyes as if he was trying to scrub out any memory or noise he may have heard.

 

Downstairs and outside the door of the bus, Kate is having a quick cigarette with Charlene before getting in with the rest of them. Will pokes his head back out the door to see where they were and notices that the crowd has pretty much dispersed. He walks down the steps to the bottom and approaches the women.

 

“So, earlier in the lounge,” he starts and Kate turns and looks directly at him with interest. “What were you going to say?”

 

The reporter quirks an eyebrow quickly and as Will looks away she gives a sly wink to her apprentice before starting to explain exactly what she was talking about.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three

Kyle and Dan lie back on Kyle’s bunk and watch the rest of the group potter about and get themselves ready for the trip up north overnight. Dan was exhausted. He always had a come down after a show if he wasn’t going out or doing anything else, and as Kyle glanced down at him he can see his eyelids dropping underneath where his hair was starting to wilt.

 

“Go take your contacts out Dan,” he whispers into his ear, and just gets a grunt in return. Kyle prods him up so he starts to move towards the edge of the bed to stand up. “Come on Smith, up you get or you’ll only complain in the morning.”

 

Dan eventually gets up and walks towards the stairs to the toilet downstairs looking like he was auditioning to be an extra for the Walking Dead. He pulls his t-shirt over his head and puts an old burgundy North Face hoodie back on before changing his jeans into jogging bottoms.

 

He then pulls his laptop out and loads up some of his downloaded TV shows to watch. He never slept brilliantly when they were on the road, and he knew he wouldn’t sleep until they got to their destination and were stationary for a suitable period of time.

 

Out of the corner of his eye he watches Sharon and Charlie settle down in the same bunk together and he looks over at Woody.

 

“Oi! Wood! You not gonna threaten them the same way?” he calls over to the drummer with a ‘look’ on his face.

 

“Nope,” he calls back and doesn’t even look at him.

 

“Wow! Double standards man!”

 

“Not for that reason ya cream doughnut,” Woody calls back and turns onto his front to look back at Kyle. “It’s mainly because I trust them not to behave like a fourteen-year-old boy bringing his girlfriend home and trying to get away with snogging her with his parents around,” he explains and shoots him a knowing looks. Kyle just looks at him and furrows his brows and purses his lips, unwilling to admit that Woody was right.

 

Dan climbs back up the stairs again and collapses down onto his own bunk opposite Kyle. He is followed by the journalists and Jools who all start to set themselves up in their own bunks. The girls each go downstairs one by one to get privacy in the toilet to change and remove make up.

 

Kyle moves over to his partner and makes him actually get into the bed instead of just passing out on top of the covers before making his way back to his own and settling under the duvet. He puts his headphones in and hooks them up to his laptop. He doesn’t start the programme, but looks around the rest of the group as they settle. Because Sharon and Charlie are sharing the single bed, there are now enough bunks for everyone in the group and no one has to sleep on the pull out sofa.

 

The girls all return from the bathroom and the lights all go off one by one. Will had been pretty quiet since he came back upstairs and had gone to bed without saying anything to anyone. Kyle looks over at the oldest man in the group and watches him closely. He has clearly fallen asleep and he is turned on his side with his face to the wall.

 

“Night hun,” he hears faintly, and notices Jools standing at her bed and looking at her. He smiles widely back and her and watches her get into bed as well before pulling his hood over his head and settles his head back against the wall behind him.

 

He sees a movement and a light go on at the end of the row of beds and sees the younger reporter get out of the bed and he watches her fall back onto the sofa. He watches her tap things on her phone and then sees her shoot a longing glance over to Dan’s bed and take a photo of the group sleeping soundly. She shoots a look over at Kyle who pretends he is engrossed in something on the screen and he notices her grimace as she looks away again.

 

Kyle sighs deeply as he recognises the smitten look on the girl as she looked at Dan and the thought _‘fucking hell, here we go again,’_ shoots unkindly through his brain. He hits play and settles down for the first leg of the journey.

 

\---

The next morning, the group wake up and they are parked in a motorway services just outside of Leeds. Kate and Tom were setting up for the first of the interviews with the group. The plan was to have a formal videoed interview in the morning and then the rest of the day Tom and Kate will trail around after the chosen member videoing and getting candid shots.

 

That morning was starting with Sharon and Charlie, and Kate was going over a list of things she was going to cover while Tom set up the camera downstairs in the larger lounge area.

 

Dan was still passed out on his bunk and curled up into a small ball on his side. Kyle was sleepily opening his eyes to the noise going on around him. Woody was still in bed, but pulling things out of his bag looking for something specific. Charlie and Sharon were missing and Jools was putting her long hair up in a ponytail.

 

“Jools?” He calls out pathetically to his best friend, and makes his eyes as wide as possible. The girl looks over at him suspiciously.

 

“What?”

 

“Food run? Please?” he replies and throw his wallet at her which she manages to catch with one hand.

 

She laughs at him and takes orders for McDonalds breakfast before heading out of the bus.

 

“So, Kyle, Kev is in Edinburgh tomorrow night, he’s offering tickets you want to go?” Woody says to him over the shoulder as he watches the synth player stretch as he gets out the bed. Kyle looks at him and thinks. Kevin was a good friend of Woody’s who was a comedian and he didn’t get to see him often. Them being in the same town at the same time was a positive for him and meant he could catch up with his mate.

 

“Yeah, cool, shall we ask Dan when he wakes up?” Kyle says to him and Will scoffs from his bed to interrupt.

 

“Not like he ever thinks of us when he decides stuff,” he mutters to them, and Kyle rolls his eyes and ignores the comment from him.

 

“We’ll ask him when he wakes up but let’s say yeah right now?” Kyle says as he pads past Woody in his bare feet to go down to the bathroom. Woody nods quickly as he passes.

 

Kyle slowly goes down the stairs, making sure that he doesn’t slip and fall – which would not be the first time something stupid had happened to him when doing some everyday activity. He salutes to Tom as he sees him and sees the young lovebirds settling down onto the sofa and waiting for Kate to make an appearance.

 

He gets into the small toilet closet and does his business before quickly brushing his teeth in the small metal sink crushed in there with him. He splashes his face with water and smooths down his facial hair before flushing the toilet and squeezing out of the midget sized space.

 

He moves into the small kitchenette area and notices that the filming has started at the other end of the bus. He opens a fresh bottle of water and downs two paracetamol as he listens abstractly to the introductions of the two touring members and what their roles are on the stage.

 

“So, Charlie has been with the guys for a couple of years now, but Sharon, how exactly did you become part of the team?”

 

Kyle freezes and turns around so he is leaning against the counter and looks at the group at the end of the bus. There are only six people that know the exact way Sharon became a part of the group, and Kyle didn’t need that to expand to all of their fans as well.

 

There is silence from Sharon as she glances up and sees Kyle looking at her with a curious expression on his face. He sees her then look at Charlie who smiles warmly at her and she starts to talk again.

 

“Well, I actually went to school with Dan’s sister and we were really good friends. Dan met me at a charity concert he did for them and the rest is pretty much history!” she tells her, giving just enough of the truth, but glossing over all the actual detail. Kyle released a breath he didn’t realise he was holding and winks at the girl who gives a half smile back to him.

 

“Wow,” Kate exclaims with a clearly false tone. “And now you two are together is that right?” she asks and the two of them nod happily at her. Kyle starts to ignore them again as he moves towards the stairs to walk back up before he then hears the question, “but what is it about a tattoo you have Sharon, saying you love Kyle?”

 

Kyle immediately misses the step he is going for and there is a clatter as he face planted right onto the step in front of him. He heard the beep of the camera turning off behind him and felt a shadow stand over him.

 

“Kyle? You alright?” Tom asks, not really that concerned as it wasn’t the stupidest thing he’d ever seen him do. And also not the stupidest thing he’d ever seen Kyle do _sober_ either, which was a damning indication of how much stupid stuff Kyle actually did.

 

“Yup,” came the reply, muffled by the floor. He rolls his head to the side and sees Tom’s hand outstretched to help him up. He groans, and thanks every god available he had just taken some pain killers cos that was going to hurt soon.

 

He takes his friend’s hand and gets himself back on his feet, cracking his toes as he went. Tom steadies him by the shoulders and looks him up and down. Kyle pulls him in for what looked like a friendly ‘thank you’ hug to everyone else, but when he has him close he whispers subtly in his ear;

 

“Get her off that topic and anything to do with me or Dan,” and as he pulls away he claps him on the shoulder to indicate he understood.

 

“He fell down the stairs didn’t he,” comes Jools’ voice from behind them and Kyle turns round guiltily and looks at her. “Oh for god’s sake idiot, come on and get fed,” she says as she pushes past and takes the steps a couple at a time.

 

Kyle follows her with one last look at the film maker and disappears upstairs.

 

\---

Dan wakes up to the smell of a sausage and egg Mcmuffin Kyle places strategically next to his head on his pillow and devours it before he has even opened his eyes properly. By the time they have all eaten, gotten dressed and relaxed while Charlie and Sharon finish getting their interview recorded, it is time to head to the venue to get set up and ready for the evening.

 

The day continues much like the previous one. Knowing they had the next night free to do what they wanted, they were a lot more relaxed and continued the sound check in a relaxed manner. Will was quiet throughout the day, but was talked when he was spoken to and had no problems trading light hearted insults with the rest of the group.

 

If you were an outsider you would think everything was normal, but all four members of the band were aware that something was up. There was no smile in his eyes when he bantered with either Kyle or Dan and he strategically avoided being alone with either of them if he didn’t have to be.

 

Meet and Greets were done and there were some knowing glances thrown towards Dan and Kyle from some of the fans, and they seemed a bit more hyper than the ones in London, but as they were used to the craziness that came with different parts of the country, no notice was really taken of it.

 

The final notes of Pompeii rang out as they finished the set and they all exited the stage as they normally did. Charlie was taking Sharon back to see his family for the night and the following day before getting a train the following evening to meet them in Edinburgh, so they quickly escaped before the fans could swarm them at the stage door.

 

As the rest of them relaxed backstage, Will had taken his phone out and was scrolling through something on it and his face was getting angrier and angrier as he continued.

 

“What’s up mate?” Kyle says as he pulls his shirt off, wipes his face and throws it on top of his bag before collapsing next to him.

 

“Oh god, Kyle, I’d forgotten how bad you smell on tour!” Will exclaims and moves away quickly. Kyle sniffs under his arms and grimaces slightly.

 

“I think he smells good,” Dan says seductively and curls up on the sofa next to him and takes a deep breath.

 

“Yeah well mate, I think we’ve already decided your opinion of Kyle is weird,” Woody says and sprays Right Guard toward the pair on the sofa. Dan pulls a cushion from under him and throws it at the drummer and it misses by a mile.

 

“Well, fine I’ll take a shower before we go then,” Kyle concedes and heads toward the backstage bathroom that came fully equipped with shower for the bands that performed there. Dan follows him quickly saying something about needing to freshen up himself, and the two other watch them both leave.

 

“Clean up properly before I go in!” Woody shouts after them.

 

“Yes mum!” Kyle shouts back.

 

“Will, what’s wrong?” Woody says as soon as the door is shut behind them.

 

“All this crap about him consulting us before he does anything, its complete bullshit.” Will tells him and throws his phone at him.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“You not checked twitter recently?” and Woody shakes his head at the question. “Well have a look at what Dan posted this morning.”

 

_@bastilledan – he proposed and I said yes!_

 

And under the tweet was a photo of the ring Dan had been sporting on his middle finger for the past few months. There were retweets and likes galore. The majority of comments were congratulations, but some were shouting abuse and criticising him for still being with Kyle.

 

“He told us he wouldn’t say anything until the end of this tour. He promised us he would tell us when he did anything that affected us too. It’s shit man, complete and total shit!”

 

“To be fair Will, this isn’t really about us though, it’s about him and Kyle so…”

 

“But it affects all of us! No, this is the final straw Wood. We finish in Manchester, I’m out of here and not looking back.”


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so this is the second chapter I've posted today if you hadn't already seen the other one. 
> 
> A bit of a different point of view and a time jump back to the previous night to try and explain some things for you.
> 
> Hope it's not too confusing. Message if it is and let me know and ill try and explain! xx

Chapter Twenty Four

Will and Woody walked through the crowd being followed by the reporters. The fans were still excited to see the two less prominent members of the band, but Kate did notice that the crowd was thinner than what she was expecting and from what was probably there when Dan and Kyle had walked out.

 

Kate noticed that Dan was an attractive man, it was difficult not to, and his songs were catchy she would give him that, but she had no idea why he was such a draw for the girls that loved him so. And as for Kyle, well she had been at school with him and knew exactly how annoying he was then. She had only been aware of him for the final year she was at school when he started hanging around with Jools, but throughout that year he had become increasingly infuriating and outspoken. For Kate he had become far too self-important and was relishing the opportunity to bring him down a peg or two.

 

When Margaret Philps had contacted her a month previously, she had clearly done her homework. She knew that she was a writer for a high end music magazine and she already knew that she had been at school with Kyle. What was a surprise for the matriarch – but a pleasant one - was how much she disliked the man. So when she met her and she explained the whole deal to her she was immediately up for it. That was when the night out was arranged and Jools was invited. Now was just the time to put everything into motion and the group would never know what had hit them. That and she was being generously reimbursed for her time and trouble was also a plus.

 

So she hung back as she watched the men make their way through the crowd, greet the excited well-wishers and posed for photographs. Then men finally disappeared inside the bus and the crowd of mainly teenage girls started to disperse quickly as the bus door closed.

 

“What do we do now?” Charlene asked her. She looked at her new apprentice. She wasn’t lying when she told the group that she was her new intern at the magazine. What she hadn’t told them was that she was provided by her benefactor and she was there to help with the plan.

 

“Let’s wait for a minute yeah?” Kate replies and they walk slowly over to the bus door. Pulling a packet of Benson and Hedges out of her bag and a disposable lighter. She opens the packet and offers one to the girl who enthusiastically takes one.

 

It wasn’t long before the bus door hisses to life and opens. Will’s head pokes out of it and sees the two women at the side of the bus. He walks down the steps and walks up to them slowly.

 

“Showtime,” Kate whispers lowly to her accomplice who turns around slightly to hide her smile from the man walking towards them.

 

“So, earlier in the lounge,” Will starts and Kate looks directly at him, trying to be as interested as possible. “What were you going to say?”

 

Will looks behind him quickly to see if there was anyone else behind him. Kate winks at Charlene before waiting for Will to look back at her.

 

As he turns around to look back at her with concern in his face, the journalist puts on a look of confusion.

 

“Which bit?” she asks him “You mean the bit about Kyle and Dan being close?” she asks again and Will nods in confirmation.

 

“Well,” the woman starts and looks away as if she is not too sure whether she wants to say anything. Will takes the bait and tries to catch her eye.

 

“Come on, if you’ve noticed anything?” he says, clearly wanting to hear the woman’s take on the situation.

 

“Alright, well he seems to like being in charge doesn’t he? Dan, I mean. And if him and Kyle are spending all this time together like you say they are he’s probably only bouncing ideas off of one person. I was just wondering if it was like that, really?” she says quickly and she looks away as if she is embarrassed about it.

 

She looks up at him through long eyelashes and sees that the bassist is looking off into the distance somewhere. There is a stiff set to his jaw, and she guesses she’s hit a nerve with what she had said.

 

To be fair, it hadn’t been difficult to notice exactly where the problems were with this band. After seeing the look on Will’s face when he picked the men up at the night out and the way he was talking to them at the time, she could see there was tension there already. And then tonight was like a gift for her! Will blowing his top at Dan for organizing meet and greets without telling him just let her see exactly what buttons to press.

 

She had already been given an entire back story of why Margaret hated this group so much and inside information about everyone so she knew the questions she was going to ask in the interview stages, but Will coming to her like this was better than she could have imagined.

 

“I mean,” she presses, “were you given any choice in doing this tour? It seems so strange that you guys just stopped doing a lot of the festivals this year and there were a lot of rumours going around about Kyle in particular,” she continues. “Were you even involved in any of that?”

 

Will stays silent and just keeps looking at something else in the car park. He snorts with what could be mistaken with laughter and looks to the ground.

 

“And the songs for the charity thing, do you even know what they are yet?” she asks. “And there is always a cameo thing with him and Kyle – at every show! – but never with anyone else, which seems a bit unfair if you ask me,” she finishes with a flirty smile.

 

Will looks directly at her again, but still doesn’t say anything. He narrows his eyes and takes stock of the woman in front of her. Both women stub out the ends of their cigarettes and make their way back towards the bus. Will watches for a minute and then follows them inside.

 

\---

Everyone was in bed and sleeping or quickly drifting off when Charlene gets back out of bed with her phone and sits on the couch. She had received a message and it was time for her to try and act on it.

 

The young girl had enjoyed being sent to Ibiza and was extremely upset that her come on to the singer she loved and adored so much was a failure. She had believed the photos online and what she had been told, so seeing him now so happy with the annoying bearded keyboard player was a big shock.

 

Being asked to be part of this was perfect for her. She loved the drama and anything to get herself put in the way of the man she knew she was meant to end up with was a dream come true.

 

She picked up her phone and looked again at the message that had come through.

 

_Dad – his passcode is usually birthdays, so try the following 140786, 050289, 060785, 220983, 310589_

She looked around at the rest of them. Unfortunately, Kyle was still awake and watching her carefully. He had headphones in but she wasn’t sure whether he was actually doing anything on that laptop. He watches her take a photo of the whole group sleeping that she wanted to direct message a group chat on twitter and then settled down to play some of her games on the phone.

 

She is unsure how much time passes but then next time she looks up, Kyle has his head slumped to the side and his headphones still in. He is clearly asleep and paying no attention to anyone else around him.

 

Now was her time to do some of her part of the plan. Kate wanted to sew as many seeds of discord as she could and doing this would show again that Dan was doing things without informing any of the rest of them.

 

She moved over to the bunk next to the singer and takes a moment to bask in the excitement of watching him sleep. She would now be able to imagine him sleeping like that next to her forever or until it actually happened – whichever came first. She smiles at him and then picks his phone up. She tries four of the numbers her dad had sent her, but it was the final one that worked and opened up the phone for her.

 

She looked through all the apps he had saved and there seemed to be no organization to them. She finds the first one she needs and opens it up. The camera pops up and she starts to angle it towards Dan’s hand. She had noticed the ring on his middle finger in Ibiza but had never said anything to anyone else. There had been some flurries of interest online about what it meant, but it wasn’t until she saw the hand again that afternoon that she realised the couple were engaged. She felt it was confirmed when she noticed the subtle tattoo of _D.C.S_ on Kyle’s own ring finger and she put two and two together before informing her boss.

 

She manages to get a good photo of the ring of the singer’s ring finger and them quickly opened up the twitter app and opened up a new message.

 

_@bastilledan – he proposed and I said yes!_

 

And she attached the picture of the ring on the post. She deletes the photo and clicks the power button on the side of the phone until the screen locks. Moving back to her own bed she collapses onto it lightly and picks up her phone. She texts Kate to let her know she had posted it and then she dials her dad’s phone, happy that no one would hear her and they were all fast asleep.

 

“Dad, it’s me,” she says quietly down the phone. “There is a new post on twitter you might be interested in.”

 

“Brilliant sweetheart. I’ll let Margaret know when I see her tonight,” and there is a soft click as Dave hangs up the phone.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Here is the next chapter. This part is almost finished, i'm sure you'll be glad to hear!
> 
> This week might have sporadic updates. GISHWHES is here and might have other things to do!!
> 
> Will do as much as I can. Please enjoy and let me know as always.

Chapter Twenty Five

Kyle holds the door open for his lover to walk through and shuts and locks it behind them. He walks over to the sink and looks at himself in the mirror behind it. He puts his hands on the bunker in front of him and he sighs deeply. He feels Dan’s arms wrap around his middle and he presses his face to Kyle’s shoulder. He twists Kyle round so they’re face to face and Dan looks deeply into his eyes to see what’s wrong.

 

Kyle avoids his eyes for a while and takes in his surroundings. There is a large double man shower in the room with them, fully stocked for the celebrities who use it with high end products. There are large bath towels available for them to use and there is a warmth in the room, but no towel rails indicating some sort of underfloor heating is in use.

 

Dan takes hold of his chin and strokes the whiskers in his grasp. He brings Kyle’s face to the front to make him pay attention and leaves the unasked question hanging in the air.

 

“I don’t want to make a fuss,” Kyle tells him. “But I feel like I can’t even touch you! We’re engaged and I feel like I touched you more in public before we even got together!” he complains.

 

“I know, Ky, really I know,” Dan soothes and starts to stroke his hair down flat. “Fine, tell you what, shall we get ready and go and talk to Will and Woody about telling everyone and say we aren’t going to hold back anymore?”

 

“Yeah,” Kyle agrees, “but only if you’re alright with it?”

 

“Hey, it’ll be weird to start with but I’ll get used to it – just have to get over all those years I wasn’t allowed to touch you like that,” he says and sticks his tongue out at Kyle.

 

Dan sees the glint in his fiancé’s eyes, and immediately sees him surge forward and bites the singer’s tongue, pulling him forward into a searing kiss. They start to attack each other’s clothes and t-shirts, socks and jeans end up being thrown all around the bathroom in their haste. The water gets turned on by one of the them, and Kyle roughly pushes Dan under the stream, before stepping up to him and resuming the onslaught on his mouth.

 

Dan growls lowly as Kyle roughly start rubbing him down and pressing his groin against his own. He manages to get the shower gel open and start to soap up the man, whilst pouring all the love and hunger into his constant kissing. Eventually, he spins Dan in the cubicle and pushes him to the back wall. Surprised by the sudden force, Dan manages to save himself by instinctively putting his arms out to save himself. Kyle’s hands start to trace down his sides and still at his hips, before he feels the two muscular globes of his backside being pulled apart and a soft breeze being blown over the hole in between.

 

He gasps loudly, anticipating what was to come and after a quick nip to the right buttock, he feels the tickle of facial hair and then the soft but insistent tongue of his partner demand entry into it. He can feel and hear Kyle humming his interest behind him and large hands are slowly massaging his both buttocks in time with his ministrations.

 

Having been so tense about the whole trip, having journalists with them and the strange behaviour of Will, Dan had been ready to come as soon as he had started kissing Kyle, and he knew he wasn’t going to last long. However, the entire magic is destroyed by loud banging on the locked door. Kyle immediately stops what he is doing and Dan actually screams in anger.

 

“Guys! Come on! You aren’t the only ones needing to use that place you know,” Woody’s dulcet voice come shouting through the door.

 

“He’s a fucking cock block,” Dan hears Kyle murmur from below him and he glances down to see his own erection slowly soften to nothing.

 

“Fuck you Woody!” Dan shouts out, and he hears a small laugh float back through the door at him.

 

\---

The two, freshly smelling but seriously frustrated, band members emerged from the shower and glared at the drummer when they saw him.

 

“Guys, you aren’t at home now, learn to share.” He shoots back at them when he sees the looks on their faces.

 

“Right, guys, seriously,” Kyle starts getting more and more annoyed. Dan puts a hand on his arm to calm him down.

 

“What Kyle is trying to say,” Dan says to the two of them looking at the pair now, “is we want to be more open with our relationship, would that annoy you guys?”

 

Will snorts loudly and just looks incredulously at the two of them as he takes in what he has said. He starts shaking his head, and the look of anger comes back over him.

 

“Really? Now you ask? After you’ve already done it?”

 

“Huh?” Dan says, looking and feeling very confused.

 

“We saw your tweet from last night Dan,” Woody says to him quietly and looks at him sadly.

 

“What tweet? I’ve not been on in days,” he tells them and he pulls his phone out to look at the app. He logs in and notices that something hadn’t been muted because he had over a thousand notifications on his phone from the social media account. “What the fuck?” he mutters to himself and Kyle looks over his shoulder with the same kind of shock on his face. He knows that whenever Dan posts he mutes all notifications and only goes on to check irregularly afterwards.

 

“Will, Woody, I didn’t post that,” Dan says seriously and hands the phone to Kyle to look at and the younger man’s face changes to confusion when he sees it.

 

“Really?” Will says to him. “Why the hell would someone break into your phone and tweet that Dan?”

 

“I don’t know, but I _didn’t_ do it!” Dan argues, still very confused.

 

“For fucks sake Dan, not everyone has it in for you, you know. You aren’t that special that you’ve made so many enemies. And why would anyone do this to piss you off? Just admit it, we’ll finish the tour, and I’ll find another gig alright?” Will finally says to him as he heads off towards the shower and slams the door behind him.

 

“Wh-what?” Dan stutters at the same time as Kyle shouts, “has Will just quit?” and both of them look over to Woody.

 

“Dan. Kyle. I don’t care what you did, but if you don’t fix this shit…” and he leaves the rest of his threat unfinished as he walks out of the room to wait for the bassist.

 

\---

The trip to Scotland from the North of England was quiet and frosty. None of the band talked. Charlie and Sharon weren’t there to break the tension and Jools was already asleep when the band made it back onto the bus, studiously ignoring each other.

 

The journalists seemed to see that the boys weren’t happy about something and they and Tom kept to themselves before crawling into bed themselves. Will and Woody both decided to sleep on the sofas on the lower level and Kyle and Dan decided they didn’t care how small the beds were, they would be sharing.

 

Waking up in the morning in the carpark of the Edinburgh Corn Exchange was strange for the majority of the group. They weren’t performing that night, but Dan had decided that they would start going over some of the songs they were going to perform in Manchester, so they were allowed to use the rehearsal space at the venue to set up and practice.

 

There was still a stalemate in force. Dan and Kyle had no idea what to say to Will and Woody and Will was too angry to say anything to the couple. They walked into the large stone whitewashed space where Coop had gotten the runners to set up the instruments and Dan pulled his iPad out.

 

“OK, so Jools, I need you to stay here and help with anything, but how about you girls go out and look around the city or something? Nothing exciting is going to happen. Take Tom with you, he knows his way around,” Dan suggests to them. He didn’t necessarily want Tom to leave, but he didn’t want the women there. He still hadn’t placed where he knew Charlene from but she was worrying him with the constant looks at him.

 

Kate and Charlene finally agreed and the three of them left eventually to do some tourist trips.

 

“So we have one song we have to do,” Dan says, “But for the other three I was thinking we do Glory cos we’re releasing it, thought we could do some Travis song and maybe a mash up of some sort?” he says generally to the room and waited for some feedback.

 

“Whatever,” Will says dejectedly from the corner.

 

“Will, come on I want your feedback here.” Dan tries and he just gets a shrug in return, and there is silence that follows.

 

“What mash up were you thinking Dan?” Woody says after clearing his throat.

 

“I don’t know yet to be honest,” Dan says to him and it goes quiet again.

 

“Well, shoot me down if you think this is a shit idea,” Kyle says and they all look at him expectantly. “Oh shit, you actually want to hear this,” he curses and feels more self-conscious. “Right, well, why don’t we do songs that kinda showcase each of us?” the man says. He had been thinking al night and he knew that there had to be some way to at least throw a plaster over this wound until they could patch it up properly.

 

“What do you mean?” Dan and Will say at exactly the same time and each side eye the other.

 

“Well, Glory is ours, but it’s Dan’s voice that everyone hears.” Kyle starts. “The one we’ve been ‘assigned’ is one with mainly Dan, but will obviously have Sharon singing the girl’s part.” He stops quickly and looks at the rest of them. They weren’t currently looking too impressed with what he’s saying, so he takes a bog deep breath. “Well, one of the songs has to be totally different for us, yeah?” and the others nod in agreement. “Well doing a Travis song is totally in the same genre, and a mashup Dan, they’ll be expecting it. So…how about one of them being a totally guitar and drum heavy one? Charlie, Will and Woody can do the singing, we’ll do extra stuff if we need to but the focus would be on them?”

 

“What were you thinking?” Will says, surprising everyone with the interest he had taken in the suggestion.

 

“Well, that would be up to you guys. I mean it needs to be something that you can practise a couple of times before Saturday though, and get it down?” Kyle says and Dan smiles at him before looking at Will and Woody with apprehension on his face.

 

“What do you guys think?” He asks them, but focuses the questions on Will alone.

 

Will and Woody look at each other and seem to have some sort of silent conversation between them before they turn back to the singer.

 

“Give us half an hour to chat to Charlie,” Woody says to him and the two of them leave the room, presumably to ring the younger man.

 

After the door closes, Kyle lets go of the deep breath he had been holding and smiles at Dan.

 

“I don’t think what you think I think you know,” Dan says to him and Kyle’s smile falters as he tries to understand what has just been said to him.

 

“What?” Kyle eventually says, not being able to make any headway in what had been said.

 

“You said last week that you weren’t an idiot, no matter what I thought of you,” Dan explains to him. “I don’t think you’re an idiot,” he tells Kyle and walks over to him and wraps his arms around his middle. “I think,” he says slowly, “you are hot,” and his kisses his nose, “sexy,” he says kissing his neck, “and brilliant,” he finishes and kisses him deeply on the mouth.

 

“Hmm?” Kyle murmurs and pulls away from the kiss. “I still have no idea what the fourth song is gonna be so don’t talk me up too much just yet,” he tells him and they sink down onto the seats available to wait for the others to return.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six

After the promised half an hour, and after Jools comes back with Costa from over the road from the venue, they all sat down and agreed with Kyle’s plan. Will and Woody hadn’t told them what the song would be and Dan supposed that was a bit of payback for all the times he hadn’t told them things.

 

The final song was allocated to Dan to do something with. Kyle declared he didn’t care as long as he didn’t have to sing solo and the others seemed happy with their choice of music, so miraculously and democratically they were all happy by the end of the meeting. Will still seemed tense, but Dan couldn’t have everything.

 

Dan and Kyle were ushered out of the rehearsal space so Will and Woody could work on what they wanted to do. The couple made their way back to the coach. Kyle settled down on the couches downstairs as Dan disappeared upstairs to retrieve something. He reappears a moment later with his laptop and turns it on and onto one of his streaming services. He taps a few buttons and starts to play Catfish to pass the time. He was thinking about something more in depth, but he really couldn’t focus on anything that required brain power.

 

He sets the machine down on the coffee table and toes his converse off onto the floor in front of him. Once he was comfortable he tackles Kyle and pulls him toward his chest so he can snuggle with him. He can see the wide smile on his lover’s face as he relaxes and they both try and listen to the crazy online dating stories.

 

After one and a half episodes of disbelieving stupidity on the computer, Dan and Kyle are lost in each other. Dan has flipped them so that Kyle is now on his back and being pinned into the sofa. Dan in resting on top of his, his elbows either side of Kyle’s body and he is resting on his forearms, placing butterfly kisses to his lips and then deepening the contact as he gets hungrier and hungrier for his taste.

 

Dan was grinding himself slowly and seductively agains the younger man underneath him and he was slowly kissing trails down his neck and back up the other side. Kyle was making wanton noises of lust and clearly enjoying the extended contact they had been denied for the past couple of days.

 

A cough from behind them startles them out of their activity and Dan sits up quickly, narrowly avoiding kneeing Kyle in his groin in the process.

 

“As much as watching you two go at it in our shared living area is a turn on for me,” Jools explains, “I think Will is still pretty pissed at you considering the expletives coming out of his mouth over the past few hours. Maybe do this upstairs or where people might get a bit of warning?” She suggests finally, and the couple sit up with redness creeping down the necks of each of them as they try to straighten themselves out and look a bit more presentable.

 

“Guys!” woody shouts as he bounds up the steps with Will following sedately behind them. “Let’s go to the underground town thing! That would be so cool! Then food, then Kev?”

 

Will had already agreed when in the building, so Dan and Kyle just agree and head upstairs to change into something that can go from day to night.

 

“Jools can you text the others and tell them to meet up somewhere for food?” Dan shouts down to her and she nods in reply.

 

Dan appears first in his typical all black outfit, but with a black hoody over his t-shirt and smart black corded jacket over the top. It was a cold day and they were spending it outside so he wanted to be warm. Kyle took a bit longer to come down but he did eventually with blue jeans, a light blue hoody, but similar fitted jacket on as Dan. He had a beanie on his head and his hood was stuck in the back of his coat. Dan spies it and fixes it for him as they wait for Jools to finish with make-up.

 

Eventually, all ready to go, they find a number for a cab and are driven into central Edinburgh.

 

\---

The group are dropped off half way up the Royal Mile just before they pedestrian precinct started. Dan jumps out of the cab and looks around himself at the architecture, hundreds of years old.

 

“This place is amazing!” Kyle exclaims. Even in the grey weather they can see the beautiful stone carvings and the intricacies in all the buildings. Woody seems to know where he’s going so he leads the way further up the hill, towards the large church like building, and they notice large columns opposite it, marking the entrance for what looked like official government offices.

 

“OK, so entrance is over here,” Woody shout out and the little tour group dutifully follow him onward. Dan chuckles quickly and Kyle looks at him questioningly.

 

“He only needs one of those little red umbrellas to hold up and he would have found his new career,” Dan mutters to him and they both giggle at the thought of Woody being a bus tour guide.

 

After they each pay for their tickets and all meet in a large dark vestibule at the top of some stairs, a tour guide dressed in period dress and obviously sticking to a script led them down steep stone steps to the dampness below them. They spend the next two hours underground learning about the street that people forgot about and all the different stories of the people who lived there.

 

Kyle spent the entire tour with his arms wrapped around Dan, and it was the most relaxed they had been in a long time. Dan noticed a few dirty looks from others being thrown his way, but Kyle was oblivious and nothing was said so he too decided to ignore the ignorance of the other visitors.

 

At the end of the tour, the entire group is photographed and they will later be given the opportunity to buy the photo from the gift shop. As the guide ushers everyone back up to the main level, she waylays the band and asks if she can have a photo with all of them. Dan would have previously automatically said yes to a request like that, but he made sure to purposefully look back towards Will and Woody before saying anything. After receiving a head nod from each of them, he graciously agrees and they then have a separate shoot with the brilliant tour guide who had taught them so much.

 

Resurfacing, Jools checks her phone and sees the three others had texted back and she also had a message from Charlie.

 

“So, Tom has messaged suggesting Cosmo’s for dinner? And Charlie has texted saying his train is due in,” and she checks her phone at the time, “sorry, got in half an hour ago.”

 

“Cosmo’s the world banquet place?” Kyle asks and both him and Dan nod because at least there would be things they could both eat. Agreeing to the idea, they find out where they are going and decide to walk the mile distance to get there.

 

It takes them the best part of an hour to walk there after getting waylaid by the Apple store half way there and Kyle deciding he needed new headphones. Dan decides he needs a new phone too, so the other’s get frustrated while they deal with the overly excited Apple employees congratulating them on their new purchases.

 

Leaving the shop and seeing how pissed off the others are at them they just look at them confused about the whole encounter.

 

“Did you really need a new phone right now mate?” Woody asks him, Will now going back to completely ignoring him again.

 

“We were in there anyway. Why _mum_ did you not think I needed one??” Dan asks facetiously, his graciousness slowly fading with the amount of antagonisation he was beginning to face every day.

 

“Dan, come on,” Kyle says softly to him as he starts to drag him onward so they can get to the food. Jools looks between the two couples and Kyle can see she doesn’t know who to stand with. Kyle catches her eye and shakes his head slightly to indicate that he could look after Dan and she starts to walk with the other men.

 

By the time they had finally made it to the restaurant, they were about fifteen minutes late for the table reservation that had already been made. They meander through the groups of people clearly waiting to get seated and find the rest of their party. They spend a very tense couple of hours eating and making small talk.

 

Finally, Dan gets up and makes his way to the desert stations to look and see what he can help himself to. He doesn’t realise that there is someone following him until he looks around and finds Kate behind him.

 

“Wow, dinner’s been tense,” she says to him and makes a face as if she was sharing some sort of inside secret.

 

“Yeah, we sometimes get sick of each other, but it should be over soon,” Dan tries to play it off and deflect from her line of questioning.

 

“So are they annoyed with you and Kyle then?” she asks him, clearly trying to get some sort of information out of him.

 

“What do you mean?” Dan asks her, hoping his impression of an idiot would fly.

 

“That thing on twitter? I know no one mentioned it last night at the gig, but it was obvious the fans had seen it and were excited for you,” she clarifies.

 

“I haven’t posted anything on twitter,” he reiterates, deciding that honesty would be the best way to play it and he was sticking to the truth.

 

“Yeah, alright,” Kate scoffs and Dan can feel himself getting angrier with the woman who had not done a lot to actually ingratiate herself into his good books.

 

“Don’t you have some questions to put together for Kyle or something?” Dan snaps at her and she looks directly at him and drops the jovial attitude.

 

“Oh, I’ve got more than enough questions to ask Kyle,” she says darkly, making it obvious she had entirely other intentions for Kyle’s interview the following day.

 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Dan demands and she reaches over him to pick up some jelly beans as casually as possible, as if they were making small talk about the weather.

 

“Well, a little bird has given me a lot of information about Kyle’s…shall we call them _‘extracurricular activities’_ and I want to get his take on them,” she says brightly.

 

“Don’t you dare mention anything that might get him into trouble,” Dan says.

 

“Why, what are you going to do about it?” she says to him and he can feel himself getting angrier and angrier as he looks at her.

 

Dan throws his plate down on the side of the desert station causing an almighty crash and spins on his heel before he storms out of the restaurant. Kyle looks up as he hears the noise and then sees the singer speed past him. Without thinking, all three of the band members and Charlie start to stand to follow him out.

 

Will suddenly remembers he shouldn’t be caring, but Kyle can see the concern in the man’s eyes as he watches Dan fly through the door. He pts a hand on Woody’s shoulder, silently telling him to stay put and he and Charlie both grab jackets and go after him.

 

Dan hadn’t gotten far and when the two men get outside and look around they find him sitting on the steps of the old church come bar that was next to the entrance of the restaurant. He was sitting with his hands balled into fists and was hitting his legs to get rid of some of his anger.

 

Kyle settles down on the cold stone steps next to him and Charlie stands in front of him, leaning on the stone bannister adjoining the stairs. Kyle puts his arm around his lover and pulls him into his chest.

 

“What’s happened?” Kyle says softly into his hair. Charlie crouches down so he can get to eye level and hear exactly what’s being said.

 

“I’m sick of being manipulated, of being taken advantage of…” Dan trails off. “It’s like the same shit all the time! Will and Woody – I don’t know what’s wrong with them, seriously. I’m trying so hard to include them in everything and short of just letting them make the decisions I don’t know whether I can give them anything else,” he rambles on.

 

“I know baby.” Kyle murmurs at him, trying to calm him down as much as possible.

 

“And that _Kate_! God, she’s just stirring things now,” Dan says. “And that girl with her, I know I know her from somewhere and I can’t place it at all,” he says looking at Charlie now. Kyle had already been told how much the younger girl was creeping him out.

 

“Sorry Charlie,” Kyle says directly to the younger man, “but wow she reminds me of Sharon!” He looks at the man and he can see the glare he is giving him, so feels the need to clarify his comment. “I mean before, you know, she settled down and became loved up and living with you and is now the lovely woman she clearly is,” Kyle says quickly and Dan pulls back from his chest to watch him dig an even larger hole for himself.

 

“You want some ketchup for that foot you’re eating?” Dan asks him sarcastically.

 

“Oh I can see I’m rubbing off on you then,” Kyle says to him, clearly unimpressed and Charlie laughs at the exchange.

 

“Dan, I can see you’re trying,” he tells him smoothly. “I think Will and Woody are just too close and can’t see what’s right in front of them. But the engagement announcement could have been done better,” he finishes.

 

“I didn’t do that! I have no idea who did that but it wasn’t me!” Dan tells him emphatically.

 

“Well, there’s nothing that can be done about it now, so we’ll just have to handle it. Leave it to me to have a chat with them this evening alright? Go and grab a drink somewhere, there’s still 45 minutes til the doors open and we’ll meet you there alright?” and Dan nods and looks at Kyle with the wide puppy dog eyes.

 

“Mate, I was coming with you anyway! Let’s go and set your phone up. There’s a Slug and Lettuce over there,” Kyle tells him and he pulls out some notes for Charlie to pay for him and Dan’s food before walking the short distance to cocktail bar.

 

\---

Two cocktails later and Dan feeling very happy with his new iPhone, the couple walk down to the Playhouse for doors opening. They were last there and the others had clearly arrived a few minutes before.

 

Jools, Sharon and the other girls were having a cigarette away from the crowd and Tom was with the rest of the band. Kyle gives them a small wave as they walk towards them and pulls Dan tighter towards him to give him more physical support.

 

Will and Woody are nudged by Tom and Charlie and both look round at the same time to see the couple walking towards them.

 

Will separates from them and walks towards them. Dan flinches slightly, waiting for the new onslaught of hate towards him.

 

“Alright. I’ve behaved like a tool, but so have you. We have to work this all out or nothing’s gonna work right?” Will says to him and Dan just stays silent.

 

“Will, can I ask where all of this has come from to start with?” Kyle interrupts and Will looks at him blankly as if he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

 

“Well, something must have triggered off all these feelings about Dan and everything and I was just wondering what did it?”

 

“Uhm…well…” and Will starts to look embarrassed and uncomfortable.

 

“Will?” Dan asks him and the older man looks up and directly at Dan.

 

“Twitter.” Is all Will says and his face flushes bright red.

 

“Twitter?” Dan and Kyle ask at exactly the same time.

 

“Yeah, some girls on twitter started asking what I actually did and whether I felt underappreciated, and I suppose it hit something in me,” he tells them. “That happening and Awuoi not being entirely happy about the touring thing…” he trails off and Dan starts to understand more.

 

He lets his grip of his lover go and he walks over to his friend and pulls him into a big hug to say everything he knew he would ‘t be able to say.

 

Before Will lets Dan go, he leans over into the man’s ear and says softly, “watch that reporter though. Twitter started it, but she fanned the flames,” and Dan looks over to where Will was indicating and sees Kate staring back at them with an acid look on her face.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Underground Town is Mary King's Close which is awesome - https://www.realmarykingsclose.com/
> 
> The Playhouse is the main theatre for standup, smaller concerts and musicals in Edinburgh. Cool wee place really. And Cosmo's is a World Buffet chain in the UK. (http://www.cosmo-restaurants.co.uk/ in you're interested!)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed. possible another 3 or 4 chapters left at the moment of this.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven

The band and their guests enjoy the evening comedy show. Woody was called out a number of times purely for being Kev’s friend and the rest of the men find everything he says to be extremely familiar, making the whole show more funny.

 

Afterwards, they meet up with the comedian to go out to the clubs for a few drinks afterwards. Ending up in Tiger Lily half way down the popular evening spot, the guys manage to squeeze to the front of the bar before ordering an extremely expensive round of Grey Goose for everyone.

 

Finding a booth in the back of the busy bar, drinking a number of rounds and relaxing a lot more, Dan looks over at Will and starts shouting over at him.

 

“Will! Can we film something about me and Kyle and put it on Instagram?” Dan smiles widely and puts his palms together in a pleading motion. Will smiles back at him, realising even in his drunken haze that Dan was trying to make amends, but before he was able to respond a girl’s voice spoke up.

 

“I thought you had already put that online?” Charlene says to him loudly and she is met with a scoff and a ‘tut’ from the singer.

 

“Shut up! I didn’t do that! So now I want to put up something I did do!” he shouts at her, a bit too forcefully and he realises quickly, but doesn’t have time to feel to guilty, as Will looks at him and just nods his head to agree with the idea.

 

“Thank you so much Will!” he exclaims and leans forward over the table, knocking over a number of empty glasses on the way. He pulls the older man in to a tight hug before falling backwards into his seat and being kept upright by Kyle sitting beside him and putting a steadying hand on his thigh.

 

Dan gets his old phone out, not yet having a chance to set up his new one, and starts up the camera. He looks around at Kyle and tries to get a good selfie shot set up before starting the recording.

 

“Mate, mate,” Woody calls over to him and indicates with ‘grabby hands’ for his phone. Dan looks at him suspiciously before handing the phone over to him. “Kev, video this for us will you?” and he hands the phone over to his Scottish friend and stands up to get behind Dan and Kyle. “Will, get over here,” he says when he’s in place and Will moves to stand with them. He gives a quick nod to the man with the phone.

 

“Right, well we’re here in Edinburgh,” Woody starts and points around him to indicate the club and crowd. “And Dan here has something he wants to say in person.”

 

“Yeah, well, uhm…” Dan starts and looks directly at Kyle who elbows him in the side to get him to keep talking. “Ow! Sorry, yeah, well…” Dan continues to stutter so Kyle looks at him again and interrupts.

 

“Me and Dan are getting married!” he announces excitedly and smiles at the phone, and this seems to shock Dan back into action.

 

“Yeah. Kyle and me are really happy, and want you guys to know too! I know something was put up the other day, but that wasn’t me, so I just wanted to tell you all,” Dan manages to get out to the camera.

 

“And me and Will are really happy, aren’t we Will?” And Will looks at the camera and smiles and nods. He leans down and kisses Dan on the cheek, taking everyone by surprise.

 

“Me too!” shouts Charlie from the corner of the table and Kev spins round to get him in as well before getting back to the main group.

 

“So, yeah, take this as the official announcement I s’pose,” Dan finishes and he turns quickly to kiss Kyle square on the lips before laughing loudly.

 

\---

The next morning was not a good one for Kyle. They had continued drinking well into the night and early morning and eventually managed to get back to the bus at about 3am. Unfortunately for Kyle, that day was to be his video-interview day and he felt like death warmed up when he woke up in the morning.

 

He stomped down the stairs to the living area before flopping onto the sofa and gave Tom the look of someone who would quite happily have hacked up his body into little pieces. He was still wearing oversized, soft pyjamas bottoms and his Chaos Planet tie dyed t-shirt he only deemed suitable for wearing when asleep. His hair was all over the place and sticking up in many different directions.

 

“You don’t look spry pal,” Tom says to him and smirks when he gets the finger in return.

 

Jools appears at the door with a large coffee and places it carefully in Kyle’s hands before backing off and up the stairs warily.

 

“I see she knows you well then,” Tom says and just gets a nod in response. He takes a couple of cautious sips of the liquid to make sure it wasn’t too hot, and then downs most of the cardboard cup before he looks up again at his friend.

 

“Where are they then? I mean I made it down on time,” he says to him finally, a little annoyed that he was awake when he could be asleep. Tom just shrugs and Kyle lies his head back so it’s resting on the top of the sofa back.

 

Kate and Charlene walk back up the stairs after another ten minutes chatting animatedly about what their plans were for that day and they realise that Kyle is waiting for them on the sofa, and he gives them the evil eye when he sees them.

 

“Well, Char, why don’t you go up and spend some time with the others and Tom and I can get started on Kyle here,” she says and beams a fake smile at the man, who just gives her a tight smirk in return before taking another sip of his now lukewarm caffeine.

 

Kate settles down in the seat opposite Kyle and there was now nothing separating them. Kyle had his knees brought up to his chest and he was hugging them, trying to get as comfortable as possible. Kate crosses her legs in front of her and nods at Tom officially, who then rolls his eyes and hits the record button on the camera before settling himself down on the seat out of shot.

 

“So, Kyle,” she starts and plasters a smile on her face. “The plan is this is just going to be a little informal sort of chat. I’ll ask you questions and you answer them as honestly and candidly as possible alright?”

 

“Where do we begin?” Kyle simply says and looks at her, ready to start.

 

“Brilliant!” She exclaims. “So Kyle Simmons, synth player, percussionist, guitarist. When exactly did you decide you were going to sleep your way to the head of the band?” and Kyle looks directly at her and sees a gleam in her eyes, like she was excited to see his reaction to the question. Tom goes to stand up and say something, but Kyle catches his eye and gives him a subtle shake of the head.

 

“Well,” Kyle says after a beat of silence. “I guess a whole lot’s changed since I seen you last,” he says angrily and rolls his eyes at her to show her he wasn’t happy with that line of questioning.

 

“Well, yes, we have all grown up since high school, Kyle. Some of us more than others.” Kate counters and gives him a pointed look which Kyle grins widely at. “So, maybe a less intrusive question to start with then,” and Kyle raises his eyebrows at her waiting for it.

 

“There was a lot of talk earlier in the year on social media about you and Dan using this relationship as a cover to sleep with young fans, what do you have to say about that now?”

 

“Well, Kate, if we don’t post it does it happen?” Kyle replies in a sarcastic tone.

 

“Is that your way of saying it was all made up by crazed fans?” Kate asks him, trying to get something out of the man.

 

“Obsession, it does take control,” he says sadly and shakes his head before not saying anything. He flicks his eyes up at Tom who is now studying him intently with a bemused look on his face.

 

“Well, how about your previous relationship? Everyone thought you were quite settled and then you came out with Dan. Were you cheating on your girlfriend with Dan?” That question got a slight reaction from Kyle. He hated anyone to think he was a cheat and he knew that that was what people had been thinking. He shuts his eyes, and Kate watches him count to ten under his breath, and she internally rejoices thinking she has got him to crack.

 

“No,” he tells her. “Just, so many seasons…fell beneath us,” he says simply and makes a complicated hand gesture to end the sentence and nods sadly at her. Kate looks at him open mouthed and takes a minute before saying another word.

 

“So your saying you never cheated on her with Dan?” she clarifies.

 

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Kyle tells her and does the crossing action over his chest. Kate just looks at him and opens and closes her mouth a few times, no words coming to her.

 

“Now, you’ve hit a wall, and it’s _not_ your fault,” Kyle tells her, getting up off the sofa and putting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly in her confusion. “You _must_ have the words in that head of yours,” he adds and shakes his head in mock conciliation. He leans his head forward so his mouth is right at the woman’s ear. “Stop screwing with us,” he says quietly so that the camera can’t pick it up. He straightens up suddenly, finishes his coffee in one final gulp and looks at Tom and the camera.

 

“Well, looks like that over. I’m off to play computer games,” and he winks at his friend, who is trying desperately not to burst into fits of laughter and bolts up the stairs.

 

\---

After they had all woken up and changed for the day they head back into the rehearsal space to go over the set list for the evening as the stage is set up for them. Kate seems to have gotten her composure back after the disastrous interview from that morning and was following Kyle around with Tom and asking inane questions about what he was doing and why.

 

“I’m setting up my keyboards and the sounds I’m going to need for tonight…” he replies after a stupid question was asked about what he was doing as he stood behind the keyboard with a disc in his hand.

 

Charlene looks at him suspiciously as he then picks up a guitar and starts to tune it next.

 

“And now I’m tuning a guitar…” he says slowly, as if the girl has the IQ of a 3-year-old.

 

“I know that,” she says with a snide look. “I was just wondering why?”

 

“I thought you were a fan?” Kyle asks her and narrows his eyes.

 

“I’m more of a Dan fan than a band fan,” she finally admits when there was no one else around to hear her.

 

“Oh. Sorry about that then,” Kyle says to her, making her well aware that he isn’t sorry at all. The girl looks at him as if he has just committed treason or as if he was the most evil person she had ever met.

 

“No need to be,” she replies evenly, and Kyle has a feeling she meant more than she was saying.

 

The day moves on in exactly the same way until it came to the meet and greet that evening. If the guys had thought people were acting strangely in Leeds, by the time the fans were allowed to see them that night they were almost giddy.

 

Dan and Kyle were next to each other at the table and all questions revolved around the theme of the proposal, the ring, when the date was and who asked who. By the time they had finished with the necessities, both of them felt they had already completed a 3-week international tour.

 

“Hey you were the one who thought that video was a good idea,” Will says to them with a smirk on his face.

 

“Yeah, next time I have a ‘good idea’ when I’m drinking can you hit me over the head or something?” he asks Kyle and the man laughs and kisses his head in sympathy. 

 

“That means all future albums out the window then mate, you know that right?” quips Woody as he picks up a towel and gets ready to head out on the stage.

 

“Farewell tour this is then…” Dan says with a smile on his face and cocks an eyebrow to let them know he’s kidding, and they all walk out onto the stage to rapturous cheers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so the songs that Kyle is clearly plagiarising all of his answer from are as follows:
> 
> Pompeii  
> What Would You Do  
> Way Beyond  
> Poet  
> Shame  
> Laughter Lines  
> The Silence
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter x


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!! This is the last chapter - as a thank you for sticking with me through all this have an extra long one.
> 
> Please be aware there are some unpleasant depictions at the end of this, so please be warned. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy x

Chapter Twenty Eight

The bus pulled into the carpark of the arena the charity gig was being held at on the morning of the Friday. There was a hotel attached to the venue that the entire group had been booked into and Jools was going to check them all in later that day.  The rest of that week had gone without a hitch. The interviews with Will and Woody had been done and the evenings after they were finished, Kate disappeared off to bed without a word to anyone and looking as if someone had kicked her dog. Charlene had gone quiet also, and hadn’t said a word to anyone but Dan for the entire week.

 

That morning though, as everyone woke up they could sense a change in the air. Dan’s interview had been left til the last day and Charlene was practically hopping from foot to foot in the sleeping area. Kyle watched her with interest as he slowly opened his eyes to the fidgeting noises going on from her bunk.

 

She was dressed in faded blue denim high waisted skinny jeans, but she still had her pyjama top on and was pulling different clothes out to decide what to wear. Her hair was pulled back, but he could see that she had already been up and done something different to it, because it wasn’t the limp way it had been the rest of the week. Every so often she would look at her phone, giggle to herself and type something back before getting back to the task at hand.

 

He glances over to his lover and sees Dan is looking back at him. Despite him being able to fall asleep anywhere, for some reason over the past couple of days he had become quite restless and seemed to be awake before the rest of them. Kyle moves his arm out from under the covered and holds his hand out toward him for Dan to grab onto. When he does, he just rolls over in the bed and Dan gets the idea and falls out of the cramped single bed and crawls in behind Kyle to say good morning properly.

 

“Morning handsome,” Kyle says to him as he turns around in the bed to look at him.

 

“Morning,” Dan smiles as he replies and they kiss softly, trying to avoid morning breath.

 

“Urgh,” comes a noise from the end of the bus and the men both look up in time to see the young girl storming down the stairs with a make-up bag in hand.

 

“She’s been up for a while,” Dan informs Kyle. “It took her an hour to choose those jeans,” he adds and silently laughs as he remembers the image in his head.

 

“She seems pretty hyped up, is she doing your interview or something?” Kyle asks him, but before Dan can respond, there is a noise from the other end of the bus again.

 

“Yes, in fact she is,” Kate declares suddenly.

 

Kyle starts to laugh loudly and points at Dan as he sees his face fall quickly at the revelation.

 

“Oh really?” Dan says to him. “You find that funny do you?” He asks with wide eyes and an evil smirk on his face. Before Kyle knows what’s hit him, Dan is straddling his hips and tickling him wildly in every place he knows Kyle can’t stand it.

 

“No! Dan, stop it! Don’t!” Kyle shouts at him, trying to catch Dan’s hands with his own to stop the onslaught of torture.

 

“Children! Stop the nonsense!” comes a shout from the stairs and Coop is looking up the bus at them. “Can’t you see you’re scaring Woody,” and the two of them look over at the drummer who has his sheet pulled over his head like a nun’s habit and looks like the kid from the Sixth Sense. Will chuckles from his own bed at the sight.

 

“Dan, come and check something quickly can you?” Coop asks him and Dan reluctantly falls out of Kyle’s bed and pads softly over to the stairs.

 

He returns some time later with a large package in his hands and he’s turning it over and over before he looks at the label finally.

 

“What’s that?” Will asks and Dan shrugs at him. He tears into the black plastic and pulls out a thick wad of black fabric. Kyle smiles gleefully as he realises what it is, and grabs the pile from his fiancé.

 

“Ky? What the hell?”

 

“Nope, not allowed to see these til later!” Kyle says to him and hides them in his backpack.

 

“What are they?” Woody asks him and Kyle just taps his index finger to his nose to tell him that they won’t get to know until he’s ready for it. He then falls back onto his bed and pick his laptop up to continue playing his game of Monkey Island while Dan has his interview.

 

\---

The interview with Charlene went about as well as the entire band expected. While he was getting interrogated downstairs, the rest of the group were at the stairs end of the upper level listening intently at expert questions like ‘what is Dan’s favourite colour,’ ‘what was the inspiration for his albums’, and ‘what he looks for in a perfect date’.

 

What they can’t see is the over the top flirting that Charlene is desperately trying to use to get Dan to acknowledge anything to do with her. Tom later tells them that the amount of hair flipping going on was actually causing a fan affect and the camera was picking up on Dan’s hair moving in the draft of wind.

 

“Man, Kyle, I don’t know what your gonna do? I mean she’s clearly got him hooked,” Will says to him as he pats him on the shoulder and tries desperately to hide a laugh.

 

At that moment Charlene strolls smugly up the stairs and has clearly heard that last comment and ignored any trace of sarcasm in it, as she shoots a sly look at the keyboard player and goes about trying to touch up her make up.

 

Charlie and Sharon watch in amazement from the bunk they are relaxing on and Sharon just looks directly at her boyfriend.

 

“Was I that bad?” she says and Charlie kisses her forehead and chuckles himself.

 

“Nah, honey, you were cute,” he tells her and Kyle lets out a loud ‘pah’ sound which earns a pillow thrown at his head.

 

It’s at that moment that Jools appears and calls them down for a quick rehearsal for their set. They had all agreed on performing the Fall out Boy version of Beat it for Will, Woody and Charlie and this needed very little input from Dan, Kyle or Sharon and was really showcasing the talent of the rest of them. The final song was a cover of ‘I Can Change’ by Brandon Flowers with some of original song sampled by the tune mixed in with it. They had spent their down time after Edinburgh getting it just right and it was sounding good.

 

The rehearsal goes well and they don’t bump into any of the other acts before they go on. But as the group move off of the stage to head into the hotel to get changed, the next group in are Little Mix and unfortunately Dave has tagged along with them for the performance.

 

“Ah, Dan! Good to see you again son,” the large man says to him in his normal slimy way and Dan raises an eyebrow at him as he tries to get past him as quickly as possible. “Not going to say anything to me?”

 

“I don’t think there’s anything that needs said do you Dave?” Kyle says to the ex-manager as Dan walks away from the group.

 

“I was talking to the organ grinder, not the monkey,” Dave sneers at him and Kyle spins around angrily to confront him and is stopped short by Will who holds onto his arm.

 

“Not worth it mate, seriously,” Will says to him quietly, and Dave raises his own eyebrow at that.

 

“Oh, so I see the rumours aren’t true then?” He says snidely and they all notice as he looks directly at Charlene for some reason unknown the men watching.

 

“What rumours?” Woody demands from him, and Dave just looks at him as if he was another piece of dirt he had stepped on.

 

“Sorry, I don’t talk to the backing singers,” he remarks to the drummer, and that almost makes Woody’s normally calm composure crack as he scoffs at the man in front of him.

 

“Dave, seriously, you are nothing to do with us anymore, so will you please leave us alone?” Dan says as he walks back to the group and stares him down.

 

“True,” Dave replies. “And I really should be getting back to some real talent. You should stick around Dan, see exactly what your songs could be if they were performed by real groups.”

 

“And we’re going,” Will says quickly and signals to Charlie to help him restrain Kyle before he tries to bodily slam a man three times the size of him into the floor and pound him like a piece of meat.

 

\---

The group including Tom, Coop and Jools, but excluding the two journalists all storm through the door into room 314, which is the room allocated to Dan and Kyle for the evening. Jools has managed to get their belongings brought in from the coach and they are piled neatly in the corner of the room.

 

“I can’t fucking believe that man!” Kyle fumes as he paces backwards and forwards around the large king-size bed in the middle of the room.

 

“Calm down Kyle,” Jools tries to tell him, but he continues to stalk around everyone in front of him and the rest of the men just stay silent.

 

“You weren’t here for what he put Dan through, Jools,” Kyle tells her angrily. “And then to have a go at you in front of all of us like that,” and he screams loudly to vent his frustration. Dan walks quickly over to him and holds him tightly to try and ease his annoyance.

 

Eventually he calms down enough to sit on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands and Dan looks at everyone in the room and then at his watch as he notices the time.

 

“Right, come on then everyone get ready quickly and come back here. We’ve got about an hour before we have to go and be backstage alright?” Dan tells the rest of them, and they all file out of the room. Tom gives Kyle a quick brotherly hug and heads out just in front of Jools who gives one last longing look at the man she secretly loves.

 

“He’ll be fine Jools,” Dan reassures her. “I’ll look after him,” and Jools smiles at him and nods before heading out of the door herself.

 

Dan walks back over to his love and crouches in front of him.

 

“Come on babe, I’m not upset so why should you be?” he asks him and pulls his hands away from his face.

 

“I’m angry for you,” Kyle explains and he sighs loudly.

 

“I know and I love you for it. But don’t let that idiot ruin anything,” he tells him and he pulls himself up so he’s sitting next to him on the bed. “You know I kinda wish we had longer than an hour before we had to go,” he tells the younger man and looks at him hungrily, eliciting a small huff from Kyle.

 

Dan leans in and starts to kiss him gently, but demanding immediate entry with his tongue as he licks at the seam of Kyle’s mouth and nips at his bottom lip until Kyle eventually lets him in. Dan lays Kyle down on the bed and crawls on top of him and they stay in each other’s embrace, just enjoying the taste and comfort they gave each other.

 

Eventually Dan pulls away, humming with happiness as he looks down on his lover with lust in his eyes.

 

“Yeah, we are so making up for lost time when we get back here tonight,” he tells Kyle, who looks at him with a smirk. “Screw going for drinks,” and he grinds his hips down on his fiancé and Kyle groans with yearning.

 

“So you are actually evil Dan Smith,” Kyle says to him as Dan jumps off the bed and heads towards the bathroom with a sly backwards glance. Kyle considers following him in the shower, but he hears the click of the lock and realises that Dan wants him to stay horny for the rest of the evening.

 

\---

Kyle lies back on the bed as they wait for the rest of the band to meet back at their room. He watches Dan do his normal ritual at the mirror with his hair and smiles softly to himself. He has always watched him do his hair, no matter what style it was and has always had a strange feeling inside when he did. It wasn’t until they finally got together that he realised that it was attraction – and that had previously made him feel guilty considering he was in a relationship and he had always felt that way towards him. Now however, he was happy that the geek in front of him was his only.

 

“Staring again Kyle,” Dan says to him, but Kyle can see the smile in the mirror adorning his face. There is a knock at the door and as Kyle gets up to answer it he stops next to the man.

 

“Well that’s your fault for making me horny and then buggering off isn’t it?” he whispers before opening the door to the rest of the band.

 

“Well you look a bit happier,” Charlie says as he walks in and jumps on the bed. Kyle smiles widely at him.

 

“Fake it til you make it dude,” he tells him, and sits down next to him.

 

Dan turns around and waits for everyone to come in and the group is finished off by Tom, camera in hand and videoing as normal.

 

“Right, well. I had an email a week or so ago asking me to design t-shirts we had to wear and then the NSPCC were going to produce them to sell to raise money. I was too busy to do it, but I asked Kyle to do it.” He looks over at Will who just had his normal passive face on. “You and Woody were spending the day with family so he was the only one with free time on his hands,” he explains and Will holds his hands up to indicate he didn’t have any problems with it.

 

“Basically your saying I was the only one who had nothing to do? Cheers babe,” Kyle says to him and gets up to walk towards his back pack. “So the design is pretty similar for everyone with slight differences between them.” And he pulls out the large pile of black cloth he had stuffed in the bag earlier and starts throwing them out to each of the band members.

 

The overall design was a black t-shirt, and on the back had the Bastille triangle in silver glitter. On the front over the left breast area was the WWCOMMS logo and inside it was the green NSPCC full stop logo.

 

He throws a ladies fitted t-shirt to Sharon and normal t-shirts to Charlie and Will. Woody had one with no sleeves and Kyle’s was his normal vest style. He threw the last one to Dan, and instead of having the WWCOMMS logo and full stop on the front, it had the Best Laid Plans slash in white and silver glitter with the full stop logo at the top corner.

 

“Mate, these are actually alright,” Woody says to him, surprised.

 

“I feel like I should be insulted,” Kyle muses loudly to no one in particular.

 

“To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect either,” Dan admits quietly and he gets a shocked look in response. “Oh come on Kyle, you have had some wacky outfits in the past!”

 

“I’m not taking that from the man who dresses exclusively in Twin Peaks t-shirts!” Kyle retorts.

 

“Guys, guys!” Jools interrupts. “We need to get going?” and she moves towards the room door to open it and chase everyone out. The last to leave are Kyle and Dan, still bickering like an old married couple.

 

\---

Bastille are lined up halfway through the concert, so they are all backstage waiting for their cue to go on. They can hear the dulcet tones of James Arthur and Rita Ora going before them and as Olly Murs finishes off his set they are called forward to head out.

 

Dan watches the runners quickly set up their instruments. Some of their kit was already on stage, the group being the first ones to be playing their own music instead of having a backing track, so it didn’t take long for everything to be put in place.

 

They walk out and immediately get into playing Glory without any preamble. Dan’s vocals were perfect and Kyle watches him, trying to keep as still and stoic as possible but inside feeling overly proud of the man he loves. The song ends and the crowd cheers.

 

The continue with the Olly Murs song they had to cover and then did the Brandon Flowers cover as well, before the songs finish and Dan finally addresses the crowd.

 

“So, hello Manchester!” Dan shouts into the microphone and he pulls one of his earbuds out. He won’t be needing it for the next song. “You doing alright?” and he waits for the cheers to die down before continuing. “So the next song is something a bit different from us. I won’t actually be singing.” And there are boos and groans from the audience. “Nah, don’t be like that, you must be sick of me singing by now?” and he laughs as the crowd disagrees.

 

“So please be kind to them, but I know they’ll be great anyway! I’ll be over here if you need me guys,” he jokes to Will and Charlie as they step forward and Dan disappears off behind Kyle’s keyboard with Sharon.

 

The song goes brilliantly. The crowd were shocked to see the members which were usually so quiet being outlandish and enjoying themselves. Kyle played the keys and Sharon and Dan danced together in the background and everyone seemed to be having a good time. They all hug and bow before heading off and they bump into Little Mix in the wings as they run off.

 

“Dan! Hi!” one of them shouts and Dan stops and shoots a small smile at the girl as Kyle runs into the back of him. The girls all giggle as Kyle manages to save them both from falling by wrapping his arms around Dan’s middle. “Are you staying to watch us then Dan?” the girl continues, and Dan just looks at her, the smile stuck on his face. He really didn’t want to see them perform his song, but he didn’t know how to get out of it.

 

“Uhm…sure?” He asks rather than says and he looks up at Kyle with a pleading look in his eyes, asking him to stay with him. Kyle rolls his eyes, but nods and they move to the side where they can stand and watch the entire performance.

 

The girls run out on stage in their tight, revealing t-shirts and what appeared to be bikini bottoms and thigh high boots to screams and cheers from the young girls in the audience. They all lie up in a row and the upbeat music that Dan had recorded for Pompeii is blasted through the speakers and some disgustingly erotic dance moves start coming from the girls for a good 45 seconds before any singing starts.

 

Kyle looks at Dan in front of him and can just see his hands covering his eyes and he can see a tinge of pink on the tops of his ears from where he is blushing from severe embarrassment, annoyance or both. He is distracted though by a movement out of the corner of his eye and he sees the large shadow of who can only be Dave moving out of the fire exit. What surprises him more though is the person with him who seemed to be their tag along journalist, Kate.

 

Not wanting to worry Dan any more than was necessary, he whispers into his ear that he needs to disappear, but he’ll be back and quietly slips out of the same door he saw the couple walk out of.

 

As he walks out into the fresh air, the cool breeze hitting him on the face, he looks around and can’t see anyone there. He walks around quickly and still can’t see anyone. He is about to give up and walk back in, when he hears scuffling coming from around one of the corners of the building. He inches closer to see what’s happening and he sees something that startles him.

 

In front of him is indeed Dave and Kate, but also Margaret and Charlene, and they all appeared to be arguing about something.

 

“I don’t care what you have to do Kate,” he hears Margaret shout. “Rape one of them, drug them, anything! But if you don’t do what you promised I’ll ruin you do you understand me?”

 

“It’s more difficult than I thought It would be! They all genuinely care for each other. They’re actually nice people! And there is no way you are going to get those two broken up. They love each other too much.” Kate protests.

 

“Oh I don’t know about that,” Charlene says slyly and looks at Dave. “Ain’t that right Daddy? I’m doing alright with Dan I think,” she says contritely and Kate just snorts at her.

 

“You’re a stupid little girl if you think that man is going to jump into bed with you,” and Dave suddenly slaps Kate with the back of his hand and she makes a small yelp of pain and clutches her cheek.

 

“Don’t ever talk to my daughter like that!” he hisses at her and points directly in her face. “You heard the woman. You do whatever it takes to break that lot up…”

 

Kyle shuffled slightly and he kicks something ad all of a sudden the group go quiet and look around to see where the noise had come from. Kyle gasps as quietly as he can, but Charlene points over to his corner.

 

“It came from over there,” she says and Dave and Margaret start marching towards where Kyle is hiding.

 

Not wanting to get found out and wanting to get back to Dan as quickly as possible and work out a way out of the whole predicament, he backs quickly away from the corner and starts to look around to where he can go.

 

The fire exit door has blown shut, so the only way back into the building is through the stage door at the other side of the car park. He turns and shoves his hands in his jeans pockets and tries to be as invisible as possible in his black jeans and black t-shirt. He quickens his pace as he hears the couple move a bit quicker towards him, and he looks over his shoulder quickly to see where they are.

 

They are quite far behind him and haven’t seemed to notice the dark figure moving towards the stage door. Kyle looks up towards the door and sees the familiar profile of Dan looking out the door for him. He looks up and sees Kyle walking towards him and smiles widely now that he had found him. Kyle starts to jog quickly toward the door, still about 200 metres away from him and not paying any attention to his surroundings.

 

\---

Dan watches as his fiancé starts jogging forward with his own smile on his face, but something catches his eye and he looks over to it and before he is able to scream, shout or even put his hands up in warning all he hears is screeching of breaks. All he can smell is the burning rubber of tyre on tarmac.

 

And then it is like slow motion as all he can see is the large coach screeching to a halt and the tall, slim body of the man he loves being thrown up into the air, his limbs moving into unnatural positions and a shocked look on his face before he then hits the ground of the car park with a sickening thud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brandon Flowers I Can Change - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FmPEoC7vg4  
> The song sampled is Bronski Beat 'Smalltown Boy' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuz94ZIPfJk  
> Fallout Boy 'Beat It' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk8Pb17pcQI  
> Olly Murs Up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29GWMT0GB6s
> 
>  
> 
> Sooo....thats it for this part. Let me know any comments and feedback x


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